TRICKS  AND  TRAPS 

 OP  

NEW  YORK  CITY. 


"To  be  forewarned  is  to  be  forearmed." 


PUBLISHED  BY  C.  H.  B&AINAB,D, 

BOSTON. 

ROSS  &  TOUSEY,  NEW  YORK,  Wholesale  Agents. 

1  8  5  7. 


(Copyright  Secured.) 

TRICKS  AND  TRAPS 

OF 

NEW  ORLEANS, 

AND  THE 

WESTERN  RIVERS. 

The  design  of  this  work  is  to  expose  the  way  in  which 
Strangers  and  Travellers  are  imposed  upon  and  fleeced  by 
villains  who  infest  the  Crescent  City  and  the  conveyances 
which  float  upon  the  Rivers  leading  thereto.  It  is  presum- 
ed, that  with  this  little  book  for  an  eye-opener,  adviser,  and 
guide,  that  any  man  who  has  brains,  and  will  use  them,  may 
pass  over  the  whole  ground  unscathed,  particularly  if  he 
keep  a  civil  tongue  within  his  mouth,  and  bad  liquor  out 
of  it. 


TRICKS    AND  TRAPS 

OF 

ST.  LOUS,  CHICAGO, 

AND  THB 

IF"  -A.  ~JE\.    "\7\7"  13  ST. 

One  object  of  this  book  is  to  ventilate  the  processes  by 
which  unsuspecting  people  are  duped  and  swindled  in  the 
leading  cities  of  the  West  ;  but  its  chief  aim  is  to  instruct 
the  Emigrant  how  to  avoid  imposition  on  the  route  to  his 
new  home,  and  particularly  to  expose  the  wiles,  artifices, 
frauds,  and  over  Teachings  of  the  Western  land  sharks  and 
land  speculators. 


BRAIN  ARCS 
SEYMOUR  DURST 

TRICKS  AND  TEAPS 


NEW  YORK  CITY. 


"To  be  fore-warned  is  to  be  fore*armedv» 


PUBLISHED  Bt  C.  H.  BRAINARD, 
BOSTON, 


cuss  ICS 

A* 

Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  Year  1857,  by 

C.  H.  BRAINARD, 
in  the  Clerk;s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of 
Massachusetts. 


CONTENTS  OF  PART  I. 

Introductory  Chapter,       ....  5 

Chapter  1 — Peter  Funk  Shops,  -       -      -  10 

Chapter  2— Patent-Safe  Swindlers,    -       -  23 

Chapter  3 — Pick-Poekets,  both  sexes,       -  35 

Chapter  4 — Garrotters  and  Highwaymen^  -  44 

Chapter  5 — Gamblers  and  Gambling-Houses,  52 

Valedictory,      -  62 


Electrotyped  by  E.  W.  Glover,  128  Washington  St.,  Boston. 


DURST 


PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE. 


When  the  subject  of  the  Tricks  and  Traps  of 
New  York  city  was  given  out  to  the  gentlemen  who 
have  in  this  little  book  entered  upon  their  task  so 
happily,  it  was  deemed  possible  to  embrace  all 
that  was  necessary  of  instruction,  illustration  and 
warning,  in  a  volume  of  the  size  of  the  present ; 
and  as  several  gentlemen  of  worth  and  standing  to 
whom  the  plan  of  the  work  has  been  submitted, 
had  urged  that  it  be  published  at  a  very  low  price 
so  as  thereby  to  secure  an  immense  circulation,  it 
was  decided  to  publish  it  in  a  sixty-four  page  32mo. 
volume,  at  five  cents  per  copy. 

But  the  subject  has  grown  upon  the  authors' 
hands  ;  they  have  found  it  impossible  to  treat  it 
fully  in  so  small  a  volume,  without  sacrificing  to 
mere  matter-of-fact  utility  every  particle  of  that 
amount  of  wit  and  humor  which  is  absolutely 
requisite  to  make  the  book  interesting ;  and  as 
without  the  retention  of  these  attractive  character- 
istics the  work  would  in  all  probability  fail  of 
accomplishing  the  object  proposed — usefulness 
and  extensive  publicity — the  publisher  has  decided 
to  recommend  to  the'  authors  to  take  their  own 
course  and  do  full  justice  to  their  theme — satisfied 
that  so  long  as  the  same  number  of  pages  and  the 
same  amount  of  matter,  will,  under  the  present 
plan  be  furnished  at  the  price  originally  announ- 
ced, the- friends  of  the  project,  as  well  as  the  pub- 


4 


lie  generally,  will  not  complain  of  the  issue  of 
half  a  dozen  volumes  should  so  many  be  deemed 

necessary. 

It  was  also  supposed  when  this  work  was  pro- 
jected, that,  like  an  Almanac,  it  would  "  answer 
for  any  meridian  ; "  but  though  the  examples  and 
teachings  it  presents  are  of  such  general  applica- 
tion as  to  make  it  of  service  every  where,  still  dif- 
ferences of  custom  and  habit,  but  more  especially 
geographical  and  physical  causes,  render  additional 
issues  suited  to  other  localities  necessary,  in  order 
to  form  a  work  which  shall,  to  use  a  popular 
phrase,  be  "  National  not  Sectional."  With  this 
view,  two  other  subjects,  "  The  Tricks  and  Traps 
of  New  Orleans  and  the  Western  Rivers  ;  and  the 
Tricks  and  Traps  of  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  and  the 
Far  West,"  (see  second  page  of  the  covert,  have 
been  taken  in  hand  and  will  be  issued  shortly. 

The  publisher  will  be  gratified  to  receive  any 
hints  or  suggestions  from  parties  who  may  become 
interested  in  the  objects  of  this  work — and  is  dis- 
osed  to  pay  a  fair  pi  ice  for  any  manuscript  that 
e  can  make  serviceable. 


WHAT  THIS  BOOK  IS  MADE  FOR. 


Yankee  land  abounds  in  felicitous  rascals. 

If  the  production  of  highly  finished  scoundrels 
ever  becomes  a  matter  of  emulation  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  patriotism,  a  national  pride 
in  our  country,  and  the  undeniable  facts  in  the 
case  lead  us  to  assert,  that  America  need  yield  the 
palm  to  none ;  and  should  there  ever  be  a  great 
World  Exhibition  of  Rogues,  in  which  all  nations 
shall  vie  with  each  other  in  producing  fine  assort- 
ments of  scamps,  we  modestly  claim  in  behalf  of 
our  beloved  city  of  New  York  the  very  first  place 
for  its  fine  corps  of  swindlers.  We  admit  that  she 
has  not,  perhaps,  so  large  a  per  centage  of  dishon- 
est men  as  other  towns  are  able  to  boast,  but  we 
humbly  believe  she  could  show  as  great  a  number 
of  hitherto  unknown  varieties  of  knaves ;  she 
could  make  so  fine  a  display  of  seedling  rogues, 
so  to  speak,  who  have  sprouted  into  unexpected 
forms  of  rascality,  and  developed  strange  kinds  of 
vice,  that  society  was  totally  unprepared  for,  that 
we  should  beat  all  competition  out  of  the  field, 
and  our  triumphant  reprobates  would  walk  away 
with  all  the  first  prizes. 

The  world,  however,  has  not  yet  progressed  so 
far  in  this  direction  that  rascals  have  become  cher- 
ished objects  of  national  loving  kindness,  or  even 
of  popular  commendation.  It  has  not  yet  quite 
reached  that  point  towards  which,  however,  it 


G 


seems  to  be  rapidly  progressing,  when  rogues 
shall  be  the  almost  universal  rule,  and  honest  men 
the  rare  exceptions,  for  whom  insane  asylums 
shall  be  provided  and  tears  of  commiseration  be 
shed  by  the  pitying  majority  outside  the  bars. 
The  present  tide  of  public  op'inion  sets  the  other 
way,  and  just  now  the  popular  prejudice  is  in 
favor  of  honesty  and  fair  dealing. 

Cheats  and  swindlers  find  their  natural  homes 
in  great  cities,  and  New  York,  which  possesses 
ample  accommodations  for  many  thousands  of 
these  amiable,  but  at  present  unpopular  gentry,  is 
certainly  overcrowded. 

These  differ  somewhat  in  kind  and  quality,  but 
they  have  one  common  object — to  live  without  work 
upon  the  fat  of  the  land,  and  put  their  hands  in 
the  pockets  of  other  people  for  money  with  which 
to  foot  the  bill.  These  tricksters,  who  live  by 
their  dishonest  wits,  are  sometimes  so  ingenious  as 
to  provoke  almost  our  admiration ;  and  so  assidu- 
ous-and  persevering  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
illegal  trades,  that  their  attention  to  business 
might  be  quoted  as  an  example  to  those  who  in 
honester  walks  of  life  are  indolent  and  dilatory. 

With  the  great  robbers,  the  speculators  of  the 
Exchange,  the  fraudulent  bankrupts,  the  default- 
ing bankers,  the  railway  stock  forgers,  and  other 
game  of  that  huge  size,  this  little  work  has  nothing 
to  do ;  it  proposess  to  deal  only  with  the  petty 
rascals  who  infest  the  town  ;  to  show  up  the  two- 
and-sixpenny  thieves,  and  the  small  swindlers  of 
every  kind  who  surround  unsuspecting  strangers 
immediately  upon  their  arrival  in  the  city,  and 
take  inexperienced  victims  before  they  have  had 
even  time  to  shake  off  the  country  dirt  from  their 
feet,  and  get  their  eyes  fairly  open  to  the  superior 
nastiness  of  New  York  mud. 


7 


This  book  is  addressed  particularly  to  persons 
of  both  sexes  who  are  about  making  their  first 
visit  to  this  metropolis,  and  its  object  is  to  put 
them  on  the  watch  against  the  tricks  and  wiles  of 
the  sharp-witted,  small-scale  cheats  of  the  town — 
to  give  them  a  knowledge  of  the  swindlers  they 
will  encounter  at  every  turn,  and  the  traps  and 
snares  for  which  they  must  be  constantly  prepared 
— to,  in  short,  condense  into  a  small  space  a  great 
deal  of  that  valuable  information  which  others 
who  have  not  been  forewarned  against  these  perils 
of  purse  and  pocket,  have  dearly  bought  with  an 
actual  experience  as  mortifying  as  it  is  expen- 
sive. 

It  is  a  very  annoying  circumstance  to  have 
one's  pocket  picked  without  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  who  was  the  thief,  and  how  the  trick  was 
done ;  but  in  that  case  one  has  the  consolation  of 
feeling  that  in  that  at  least  he  himself  is  not  to 
blame — but  it  is  a  most  humiliating  thing  for  a 
man  to  be  fooled  out  of  his  money  by  the  Patent 
Safe-Game,  or  the  stuffed  Pocket-Book  dodge,  and 
to  realize  that  his  own  verdant  simplicity  has  con- 
tributed more  to  his  ensnaring  than  even  the 
shrewd  cunning  of  his  victimizers. 

No  man  likes  to  write  himself  down  an  ass ; 
but  after  he  has  bet,  and  of  course  lost,  his  last 
dollar  on  the  mysterious  Thimble-Rig,  he  is  very 
likely  to  have  full  faith  in  the  length  of  his  own 
ears,  and  will  thereafter,  whenever  he  meets  one  of 
the  donkey  genus,  feel  instinctively  constrained  to 
greet  his  assinine  brother  with  a  gentle  bray  of 
recognition.  To  prevent,  in  some  measure,  the 
increase  in  the  land  of  this  already  too  numerous 
tribe,  this  book  is  sent  forth — and  if  any  self-con- 
fident man,  in  glancing  over  its  pages  turns  up 
his  nose  in  contempt  at  the  various  simple  tricks 


8 


by  which  other  people  have  been  gulled,  and  con- II  1^ 
gratulates  himself  upon  his  own  superior  shrewd-  II  £00^ 
ness,  let  that  presumptuous  individual  beware — - 11  sofltf 
the  chances  are  ten  to  one,  that  that  identical  self-  II  warni 
conceited  person  will  on  his  first  visit  to  New  II  again 
York,  before  he  has  been  twenty-four  hours  in  the  II  Intel] 
city,  be  victimized  in  more  ways  than  he  has  got  jl  mere 
buttons  on  his  shirt,  and  will  thereby  cut  his  wis-  il  leagi 
dom  teeth  at  the  cost  of  all  his  small  change. 

Let  no  one  to  whom  these  pages  shall  come,  n  try  < 
contemptuously  reject  the  word  of  friendly  caution,  f  A 
however  simple  and  unnecessary  it  may  seem,  for   u  wh( 
it  may  always  be  turned  to  good  account  by  per-  Isisj 
sons  who  are  unskilled  in  the  ways  of  the  world  ;    1  k 
and  our  word  for  it,  the  farmer's  boy  who  should  lev 
come  to  New  York,  thinking  by  pure  mother  wit  Ik 
alone  to  outgeneral  the  professional  sharpers  of 
this  interesting  town,  would  stand  an  equal  chance  In 
of  success  with  that  city  youth,  who,  having  no 
knowledge  of  agriculture,  should  attempt  to  man-  I 
age  a  farm,  and  expect  to  raise  abundant  crops  by  1 
sowing  wheat  in  the  middle  of  August,  or  digging  I 
through  the  snow-drifts  of  December  to  plant  his 
early  potatoes. 

The  plan  of  this  diminutive  volume  will  be  to 
take  up,  one  by  one,  the  different  classes  of  scoun- 
drels to  whose  arts  strangers  are  the  most  ex- 
posed, to  give,  as  far  as  possible,  the  general  char- 
acteristics of  their  appearance  and  manner,  to  note 
down  the  particular  haunts  infested  by  each ;  to 
give  an  exposure  of  their  modes  of  doing  busi- 
ness, and  to  illustrate  the  whole  by  true  anecdotes 
of  real  adventures  which  have  happened  to  ac- 
quaintances of  the  writer ;  or  which  have  been 
exposed  from  time  to  time  in  the  newspapers,  or 
which  may  be  found  on  the  records  of  the  various 
police  courts. 


9 


It  is  hoped  that  no  inconsiderable  amount  of 
good  may  be  accomplished  in  this  manner  ;  that 
some  young  girls  may  find  herein  words  of  useful 
warning,  which  shall  put  them  on  their  guard 
against  the  wiles  of  the  Fortune  tellers — the  sham 
Intelligence  office  proprietors,  and  the  other  nu- 
merous villains,  of  that  class,  who  are  always  in 
league  with  seducers  and  keepers  of  houses  of  ill 
fame,  and  who  find  among  unsophisticated  coun- 
try girls  the  easiest  prey. 

And  it  is  also  believed  that  many  young  men 
who  come  here  to  go  into  business,  or  to  see  the 
sights,  and  who  would,  perhaps,  like  hundreds  of 
their  illustrious  predecessors,  be  swindled  out  of 
everything  they  possess,  even  to  their  boots  and 
breeches,  may  by  these  few  well  meant  hints  be 
spared  this  mortification  ;  that  they  may  be  re- 
minded to  have  their  wits  about  them,  and  thus 
have  the  satisfaction  of  beholding,  at  a  fair  and 
honest  price,  all  in  the  city  that  is  worth  looking 
at ;  and  the  writer  trusts  that  this  little  book  may 
do  something  towards  keeping  all  its  readers  from 
moral  detriment,  or  pecuniary  loss  while  passing 
that  course  of  metropolitan  experiences  popularly 
denominated  "  seeing  the  Elephant." 


CHAPTER  I. 


PETER    FUNK  SHOPS. 

The  Peter  Punks  of  New  York  have  been  so  - 
often  described,  and  the  various  habits  and  tricks 
of  the  animal  so  often  noted,  that  it  seems  almost 
a  work  of  supererogation  for  us  to  set  up  our 
finger-board  to  mark  the  characteristics  of  the  un- 
clean thing.     But  we  have  in  our  daily  walks 
through  the  city,  seen  so  many  convincing  proofs 
of  their  still  existing  rascality,  that  it  is  impossi-  j 
ble  to  cherish  the  fond  hope  that  they  have  yet 
been  so  put  down  as  to  be  of  little  account.  To 
ignore  the  presence  in  our  midst  of  these  fellows, 
would  be  like  sitting  down  on  a  hornet's  nest,  and 
while  those  amiable  insects  were  stinging  us  to 
madness,  swearing  that  they  were  butterflies,  and 
that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  hornet  in  Ame*  j 
rica.    Peter  Punks  do  exist  here  in  our  most  t 
crowded  streets,  and  on  the  most  public  corners.  ' 
Everywhere,  in  fact,  where  they  can  spread  their  | 
impudent  nets  with  any  likelihood  of  entrapping  ' 
their  verdant  prey. 

And  the  constantly  recurring  cases  of  Peter  | 
Funked  countrymen,  whose  bad  bargains  in  brass 
'  watches  and  pewter  jewelry,  are  every  now  and  then 
reported  in  the  newspapers  ;  to  say  notbing  of  the 
equally  mortifying  though  not  so  expensive  expe- 
riences in  dry  goods  and  other  articles,  of  their 
more  worldly  wise  brethren  of  the  cities  and  large 


11 


towns  that  are  not  so  publicly  reported,  show  con- 
clusively the  truth  of  the  round  old  saying,  that 
"the  fools  are  not  all  dead  yet." 

It  is  not  for  the  benefit  of  this  hopeless  class 
that  this  article  is  written — for  a  fool  will  be  a 
fool  even  should  you  drill  a  hole  in  the  top  of  his 
head,  and  pour  in  quarts  of  liquid  wisdom  through 
a  tin  funnel ;  but  there  are  many  people  in  the 
world  to  whom  a  word  in  season  will  suffice  to 
place  them  on  their  guard  against  these  beings  who 
should  have  been  born  sharks  with  leathery  hides 
and  forked  tails,  but  who,  by  some  inexplicable 
mistake  of  Dame  Nature,  are  bipeds,  parading 
this  mundane  sphere  in  boots  and  breeches.  Lest 
the  innocent  persons  for  whose  advantage  these 
lines  are  penned,  should  be  ignorant  even  of  the 
meaning  of  the  name  "  Peter  Funk,"  it  is  best  to 
begin  at  the  beginning  and  describe  what  a  "  Pe- 
ter Funk  "is. 

The  Peter  Funk  of  the  city  is  a  small  souled 
pick-pocket ;  he  does  not  exactly  cut  through  your 
coat  or  pants,  and  insert  his  digits  therein,  but 
under  specious  pretences  he  induces  you  to  hand 
over  your  purse  to  him,  thus  virtually  making  a 
cat's-paw  of  your  fist ;  he.  is  a  man  who  steals 
your  cash,  but  does  it  under  a  flimsy  show  of  busi- 
ness ;  he  inveigles  you  into  an  offer,  and  then 
either  sells  you  one  article  and  delivers  you  an- 
other which  is  inferior,  or  multiplies  the  price  you 
have  proffered,  and  the  quantity  you  engaged  to 
take.  The  wares  he  puts  off  upon  his  victims  are 
almost  valueless  and  sometimes  worse  than  noth- 
ing. A  man  who  is  silly  enough  to  buy  a  watch 
of  a  Peter  Funk  auctioneer,  is  often  stupid  enough 
to  expend  "money  on  it  afterwards,  in  a  vain  en- 
deavor to  make  it  go  ;  when  for  all  the  good  such 
endeavors  will  effect,  he  might  as  well  spend  his 


12 


superfluous  cash  in  putting  a  balance  wheel  on  a 
clam-shell,  and  thereby  trying  to  make  it  keep 
good  time. 

The  most  notorious  and  noticeable  of  the  Funks 
are  the  Mock  Auctioneers ;  they  have  their  offices 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  city ;  on  Broadway,  in 
Chatham  street,  and  the  Bowery  and  other  quar- 
ters that  would  not  be  suspected.  They  make  no 
pretence  of  concealment,  but  open  the  doors  of 
their  shops  and  bellow  as  lustily  as  if  their  busi- 
ness was  the  most  honest  in  the  community.  The 
worst  class  deal  principally  in  watches  and  gal- 
vanized jewelry,  which  they  sell  as  the  genuine 
articles  to  those  unsuspecting  strangers  who  step 
into  their  stores  in  the  hope  of  picking  up  a  cheap 
bargain.  The  watch  the  buyer  carries  off  is  cer- 
tain to  be  a  dummy  (a.  watch  with  no  works  inside) 
or  a  galvanized  composition  article  for  which  lie 
has  paid  three  times  its  value ;  and  all  jewelry 
that  comes  from  these  establishments  is  utterly 
worthless  and  false. 

The  Peter  Funk  is  generally  a  flashily  dressed 
man,  with  a  profusion  of  jewelry  about  his  per- 
son, and  his  den  has  the  appearance  often 
of  a  most  respectable  place  of  business.  He  is 
always  surrounded  by  a  number  of  persons  who, 
when  a  stranger  enters,  are  actually  engaged  in 
bidding  against  each  other  with  the  greatest  appa- 
rent eagerness,  as  if  each  was  afraid  of  losing  a 
rare  bargain.  These  individuals  are  "decoys/  or 
mock  bidders,  who  are  hired  by  the  chief  of  the 
establishment  to  act  the  part  of  bona  fide  custom- 
ers. They  are  all  carefully  "  got  up  "  for  the 
purpose,  and  disguise  themselves  as  respectable 
people  in  many  ways.  One  will  appear  with  the 
black  garments  and  white  cravat  of  a  preacher, 
and  will  preserve  the  long  face  and  sanctimonious 


13 


deportment  befiting  the  gravest  of  the  cloth, — 
another  will  come  out  in  the  garb  of  a  quaker, 
with  drab  habiliments  and  wide  hat,  and  will 
"  thee  "  and  "  thou  "  his  fraternal  rascals  with  as 
an  honest  a  face  as  if  he  were  not  the  greatest 
scamp  of  them  all ;  while  another  will  be  dressed 
as  a  country  farmer  and  will  do  iniquitous  service 
in  homespun  and  hob-nails.  There  is  no  church 
in  the  city  where  there  is  less  appearance  of  row- 
dyism than  that  in  some  of  the  Peter  Funk  auc- 
tion shops.  Any  thing  that  would  be  likely  to 
cause  a  person  to  suspect  that  he  was  in  the  com- 
pany of  sharpers  would  be  ruinous  to  the  business 
and  is  therefore  most  carefully  avoided. 

To  give  the  uninitiated  individual  an  idea  of 
their  mode  of  doing  business,  let  us  suppose  a 
scene.  Imagine  a  neatly  fitted  up  shop,  the  most 
prominent  feature  of  which  is  the  "  boss  devil, ' 
in  shape  of  the  auctioneer.  This  person  attired 
in  the  glossiest  of  broadcloth,  the  whitest  of  linen, 
the  shiniest  of  boots  and  the  choicest  of  jewelry, 
is  perched  upon  a  stand  with  a  watch  in  his  hand, 
the  excellence  of  which  he  is  lauding  at  the  top  of 
his  voice,  occasionally  stopping  his  rapid  talk  to 
open  and  display  the  article  he  has  to  sell. 

Around  the  room  are  distributed  the  "  decoys  " 
or  "  ropers  in,"  who  look  as  respectable  as  so 
many  missionaries  or  hard-working  farmers  in 
their  Sunday  clothes.  They  are  chatting  among 
themselves  in  slang  terms,  cracking  their  jokes 
with  each  other  in  the  most  loaferish  friendly 
way,  until  suddenly  a  customer  heaves  in  sight, 
when  their  whole  demeanour  changes  instantly 
and  they  behave  as  if  they  were  perfect  strangers 
to  each  other. 

As  soon  as  the  hoped  for  customer  is  in,  the 
auctioneer  redoubles  his  laudations  of  his  watch, 


14 


and  offers  it  for  the  inspection  of  the  crowd  ;  it  is 
passed  from  hand  to  hand,  and  comments  are 
made  by  the  "  decoys  "  especially  intended  for  the 
ears  of  the  new  comer,  after  this  fashion  :  "  Fine 
watch "  eighteen  carat  gold  "  genuine  John- 
son movement ;  "  "  cheap  as  dirt ;  "  "  splendid  bar- 
gain ;  "  "  the  man  don't  know  what  he  is  selling 
"worth  any  man's  $200."  At  last  it  reaches  the 
hand  of  the  customer,  Young  Innocence,  who  has 
heard  every  word  of  all  this  ;  if  he  is  not  a  judge 
of  watches  he  is  very  likely  to  trust  the  opinions 
of  so  many  men  who  appear  to  be  strangers  to 
each  other,  and  to  have  no  interest  in  praising  an 
article  which  does  not  belong  to  them ;  if  on  the  con- 
trary he  chances  to  be  able  to  tell  a  good  watch 
when  he  sees  one,  he  takes  a  careful  look  at  it 
himself  and  discovers  that  it  is  in  reality  an  ex- 
cellent time-piece,  and  also  observes  that  none  of 
those  around  him  who  arc  bidding  against  each 
other  are  offering  half  the  real  value  of  the  thing. 
He  is,  therefore,  most  likely  impressed  at  once 
with  the  idea  of  getting  an  excellent  bargain,  and 
turning  a  pretty  penny  by  buying  a  really  valua- 
ble article  for  half  price. 

Young  Innocence  accordingly  joins  in  the  bid- 
ding, which  is  of  course  kept  up  againt  him  with 
much  spirit,  the  decoys  being  however  exceeding 
careful  to  have  the  watch  finally  struck  off  to  the 
stranger.  He  overjoyed  with  his  bargain  at  once 
hands  over  his  money. 

Now  comes  the  grand  secret  of  the  whole  trans- 
action. The  watch  exhibited  for  sale  was  a  genu- 
ine article  of  high  value.  As  soon  however,  as  it 
is  knocked  off  to  his  customer,  the  auctioneer, 
with  a  most  bland  smile  and  obsequious  manner 
insists  upon  putting  it  in  a  box  and  tying  it  up 
nicely.    In  doing  this  he  changes  watches,  substi- 


15 


tuting  for  the  "  genuine  Johnson,"  a  plated  brass 
one  of  similar  appearance,  but  which,  instead  of 
being  worth  $200,  would  be  dear  at  twenty  cents 
a  peck. 

Young  Innocence,  suspecting  nothing,  goes 
away  rejoicing ;  and  when  he  finds  out  his  mis- 
take either  concludes  that  the  experience  is  worth 
the  money,  and  so  hides  his  mortification  and 
shame  in  his  own  bosom ;  or  else  braying  a  report  in 
the  morning  papers,  he  speeds  to  the  police  office 
and  obtains  an  officer  to  go  with  him  to  the  Funk 
Shops  and  try  to  get  his  money  back.  In  this  he 
is  sometimes  partially  successful,  and  after  much 
trouble,  and  a  good  round  fee  to  the  officers,  he 
may  recover  half  what  he  invested. 

Sometimes  the  victim  gets  his  wrath  up  to  con- 
cert pitch,  and  resolving  to  take  it  out  in  dry 
knocks,  proceeds  to  the  place  to  kick  up  a  huge 
row ;  in  which  event  Young  Innocence  is  sure  to 
have  the  worst  of  it.  In  that  case  the  hangers-on 
of  the  establishment  set  upon  him  ;  the  parson- 
looking  man  will  pick  his  pocket,  while  the  Quaker 
punches  his  head ;  and  they  often  finish  such  a 
customer  by  contriving  to  have  him  arrested  by 
some  accommodating  police  officer,  and  carried  off 
to  cool  his  ire  in  the  Tombs. 

This  is  a  short  history  of  the  commonest  game 
of  the  Mock  Auctioneer ;  and  although  the  story 
has  been  told  a  thousand  times,  and  printed  on 
thousands  of  sheets  and  diffused  through  all  the 
land,  still  hundreds  are  fooled  every  year  by  the 
same  process,  and  probably  will  continue  to  be 
until  some  generation  of  men  is  born  into  the 
world  with  their  wisdom  teeth  ready  cut,  as  the 
following  incident  makes  evident :  — 

A  few  years  since,  just  after  some  outrageous 
cases  of  Mock  Auction  swindling,  the  Mayor  of 


16 


this  city  employed  met  to  parade  up  and  down 
Broadway,  with  signs  upon  poles,  bearing  the 
words  "  Beware  of  Mock  Auctions."  Before  the 
most  notorious  den  of  all  he  stationed  a  trusty 
policeman,  with  the  largest  sign  of  the  lot,  "  Be- 
ware of  Mock  Auctions  !  !  ! ! !  " — and  into  this 
very  place,  and  on  the  first  day  of  the  banner- 
men's  appearance,  walked  a  green-horn  and  got 
victimized  ;  giving  as  a  reason,  when  making  his 
complaint,  that  as  the  standard. bearer  was  a  po- 
liceman, and  stationary,  he  thought  it  was  all  the 
other  auction  shops  he  was  to  beware  of — he 
judged  in  this  case,  doubtless  as  he  had  of  Patent 
Medicines,  that  those  are  most  genuine  which  are 
the  heaviest  labelled  with  "  Beware  of  Counter- 
feits.''  The  next  day  every  Peter  Funk  had  his 
own  private  standard-bearer ;  and  so  great  a  laugh 
was  raised  against  the  Mayor  out  of  this  incident 
that  he  let  the  Peter  Funks  alone  for  the  rest  of 
his  term.  Verily  it  is  harder  to  shield  some  per- 
sons from  harm,  than  it  is  to  "  keep  a  moth  from 
a  candle." 

Two  cases  which  have  fallen  under  the  writer's 
direct  observation  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  sub- 
ject, and  to  show  the  practical  workings  of  the 
Mock  Auction  dodge. 

A  young  man,  named  Charles  Wilbor,  who  has 
since  outgrown  his  greenness  and  become  amply 
able  to  take  care  of  himself,  came  down  to  New 
York  from  the  undiscovered  wilds  of  Rhode 
Island,  to  see  the  town,  and  learn  as  to  the  truth 
of  all  the  stories  he  had  heard  about  "  York." 
Charley  was  a  pretty  clever  fellow  so  long  as  he 
staid  in  the  country — he  could  chop  as  much  cord- 
wood,  or  plant  as  many  potatoes  in  a  day  as  any 
of  his  inches ;  he  was  an  acknowledged  beau  at 
the  husking  frolics  and  parm'  bees,  and  at  the 


17 


spelling-schools  he  reckoned  himself  hard  to  beat, 
and  had  on  sundry  occasions  "  spelt  down  "  the 
whole  school.  Charley  was,  in  his  own  estimation 
at  least  (and  he  hasn't  got  over  it  yet)  an  exceed- 
ingly cute  chap. 

Well,  Charley  got  tired  of  farm  work  and  de- 
termined to  visit  the  city  and  see  the  sights.  The 
village  tailor  equipped  him  in  a  suit  that  was 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  made  ;  the  paternal  Wil- 
bour  gave  him  a  hundred  and  twenty  dollars,  and 
down  he  came.  The  very  first  day  of  his  sojourn 
in  the  metropolis  he  dropped  into  an  auction  shop, 
where  a  gentlemanly  looking  man  was  selling 
watches.  The  gentlemanly  looking  man  "  spot- 
ted "  Charley  instanter,  for  his  verdancy  was  pal- 
pable ;  he  was  in  fact,  so  very  green  that  his  ap- 
pearance excited  country  emotions  in  the  breasts 
of  sundry  Vermont  stage  horses,  and  they  evinced 
a  strong  desire  to  go  and  lie  down  in  the  shade  of 
him.  But  Charley  thought  he  was  smart,  and 
thoroughly  believed  in  his  own  wide-awake-a-tive- 
jness,  and  power  of  outwitting  any  city  sharpers 
who  might  make  a  set  at  him. 

Into  the  shop  strolled  the  Rhode  Island  inno- 
cent, and  immediately  the  Peter  Funk  and  his  at- 
tendant sprites  scented  their  victim. 

Charley  looked  around  with  an  air  of  bashful 
"cuteness,"  as  if  he  wanted  them  to  understand 
that  it  was  no  use  trying  to  fool  him.  Seeing 
however  a  set  of  respectable  and  grave  persons 
about  him,  he  was  soon  completely  off  his  guard. 

It  is  of  no  use  to  detail  the  exact  particulars  of 
his  victimization.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  long- 
haired Charley,  the  gay  beau  of  Little  Cowtown, 
was  completely  taken  in.  He  left  behind  him  a 
hundred  and  " eleven  dollars,  in  return  for  which 
lie  carried  away  a  watch  which  would  no  more 


18 


keep  tinio  than  a  town  pump,  and  which  was  worth 

about  four  cents  a  pound,  by  weight.  Moreover, 
one  of  the  Funks  followed  him  and  made  him 
redeem  a  Jersey  ten  dollar  bill,  on  which  there 
was  five  per  cent,  discount. 

Charley  went  into  a  jeweller's  shop  to  buy  a 
key ;  Charley  bought  a  key — Charley  tried  to 
wind  his  watch,  but  the  watch  wouldn't  wind — 
he  might  as  well  have  tried  to  wind  up  a  county 
court-house.  Charley  discovered  he  was  sold  and 
resolved  on  vengeance  ;  he  would  go  and  demand 
that  Funk  should  make  restitution  or  he  would 
make  a  row ;  he  thought  his  brawny  arms,  which 
had  been  developed  by  country  labor,  would  be 
amply  sufficient  to  maul  the  aforesaid  Peter.  So 
Charley  hastened  to  the  shop,  hoping  to  arrive 
there  before  the  respectable  customers  who  had  bid 
against  him  departed ;  for  he  meant  to  charge 
Peter  with  fraud,  and  appeal  to  these  men  who 
were  spectators  of  the  transaction  to  see  him  right- 
ed. To  Charley's  great  delight  he  found  the  same 
set  of  customers  present ;  by  some  lucky  accident, 
so  it  seemed  to  him,  none  of  them  had  gone ;  so 
Charles  counted  on  speedy  justice. 

Charley  walked  in  and  demanded  his  money 
back ;  Peter  couldn't  think  of  it — Charley  in- 
sisted— Peter  was  firm — Charley  told  Peter  that 
if  he  did  not  restore  the  money  he  would  be 
thrashed ;  Peter  thought  not ;  Charley  was  sure  of 
it,  and  began  to  take  off  his  coat.  Peter  stood  un- 
moved— Charley  had  got  his  coat  off,  he  handed 
it  to  a  quiet  looking  man  who  seemed  to  regard 
him  as  an  injured  individual;  then  he  asked  Peter 
for  the  money — Peter  didn't  think  it  could  be 
done — Charley  took  off  his  vest  and  handed  it  to 
the  friendly  gentleman — then  he  asked  for  the 
money — Peter  thought  not — Charley  took  off  his 


19 


cravat  and  handed  it  to  the  quiet  man — then  he  de- 
manded his  money — Peter  thought  not — Charley 
took  off  his  shirt  collar  and  gave  it  to  the  quiet 
man— then  he  asked  for  his  hundred  and  eleven  dol- 
lars— Peter  thought  not — Charley  then  rolled  up 
his  sleeves  and  for  the  "  last  time  "  asked  for  his 
money,  Peter  still  thought  not.  Then  Charley  made 
a  rush  at  Peter,  intending  to  smash  him,  but  all 
the  quiet  gentlemen  "thought  not"  this  time; 
one  tripping  Charley's  foot — his  fist  went  into  the 
counter;  the  rest  set  upon  him,  and  in  a  few  min- 
utes his  head  was  battered  so  that  he  could  not 
l  ave  told  his  face  from  nine  pounds  of  raw  beef. 
Then  he  was  pitched  out  of  the  back-door,  the 
I  uiet  gentleman  who  held  his  clothes  giving  him 
a  parting  kick  as  he  went  over  the  threshold. 

The  door  was  instantly  bolted,  and  Charley 
found  himself  in  the  street,  minus  all  his  money 
and  half  his  clothes,  and  his  head  one  universal 
damage.  He  luckily  found  a  friend  who  took  care 
of  him,  and  provided  him  with  funds  to  return 
home.  He  eventually  returned  to  this  city  and  is 
earning  a  good  living  in  a  respectable  capacity ; 
is  thoroughly  posted  in  New  York  rascality,  and 
particularly  well  informed  on  the  subject  of  Mock 
Auctions  and  Peter  Punks. 

The  Peter  Funks,  however,  do  not  always  come 
off  first  best.  Some  years  since,  the  mate  of  an 
Eastern  vessel  having  been  taken  in  by  some  of 
these  rascals,  squeezed  dry  and  pitched  out  of  their 
shop,  returned  shortly  with  a  crew  of  his  brother 
mates,  and  closing  and  bolting  the  doors,  the  sea- 
men gave  all  inside  a  regular  mellowing ;  unfor- 
tunately, however,  including  in  the  number  a  very 
respectable  gentleman  from  Michigan,  who  like 
poor  Tray,  was  found  in  bad  company  ;  coming 
out  from  the  Funk  den,  the  leader  of  this  band  of 


20 


Retributionists  turned  to  the  listening  policeman,  1} 
(who  on  the  occasion  of  his  former  visit,  had  seen  f 
him  ejected  from  the  premises  without  saying  a  | 
word  except  to  advise  him  to  "  be  off,  and  make  , 
no  further  disturbance/')  and  told  him  he  was  a  | 
Funk,  and  he  should  receive  the  same  sauce  if  he  | 
opened  his  clam-shell  or  laid  his  finger  on  one  of 
the  party ;  and  the  delighted  crowd  taking  their 
part,  the  now  perfectly  satisfied  Tar-Tar  and  his 
company,  after  giving  three  rousing  cheers,  de- 
parted unmolested  and  triumphant. 

The  other  case  referred  to,  was  that  of  a  very 
respectable  druggist  belonging  to  one  of  the  larg- 
est cities  of  New  England,  who,  since  the  writing 
of  the  Introductory  Chapter  to  this  work,  came  to 
New  York  and  got  victimized.  He  was  a  well 
educated  and  well  read  man,  and  took  the  New 
York  papers ;  but  despite  all  this  and  the  knowl- 
edge he  had  gained  of  city  life  over  his  own  coun- 
ter, he  took  a  new  lesson  in  our  huge  school  ot 
nature  to  add  to  his  fifty  years'  experience  of  hu- 
man vileness.  In  a  self-sacrificing  spirit  he  de- 
tailed his  mishap  to  the  writer,  requesting  that  the 
incident  should  be  published  in  this  little  book  for 
the  benefit  of  the  very  class  of  self-confident  indi- 
viduals to  whom  the  Introductory  Chapter  refers, 
and  among  the  chief  of  which  he  considers  him- 
self entitled  to  be  ranked. 

Dr.  Pill-cochia  had  finished  his  business  ready 
to  take  the  evening  boat  home,  and  to  kill  time 
took  a  stroll  in  Broadway  ;  passing  by  several  of 
the  Mock  Auction  shops,  and  smiling  in  pity  on 
the  verdants  he  saw  therein,  he  came  to  a  very 
respectable  looking  Dry  Goods  store,  with  a  red 
flag  hanging  outside,  and  not  a  Minnie  Rifle  shot 
from  the  Park,  when  "  shawls  at  only  56  cents," 
struck  his  ear  ;  he  stopped  and  stepped  confidently 


21 


in,  and  there  sure  enough  were  good  sized  and 
handsome  summer  shawls  "  going  at  56  ;  "  in- 
tending to  purchase  some  presents  for  his  country 
nieces,  he  "  went  in  "  with  the  crowd,  and  at  his 
bid  of  60  cents  down  came  the  hammer,  with  a 
"  How  many,  sir  ?  "  "  One  box/'  was  the  reply. 
"  Mr.  Cash  takes  a  box  at  sixty.  Who  takes 
another  ?  "  Dr.  Pill-cochia  stepped  up  briskly  to 
the  very  respectable  appearing  clerk  at  the  highly 
poiished  black-walnut  desk,  and  laid  down  one  of 
Uncle  Sam's  gold  eagles ;  this  was  immediately 

I  snatched  up,  and  a  bill  for  "  One  box,  10  shawls, 
$60,"  thrust  under  his  nose.  "  My  bid  was  60 
cents  a  shawl/'  says  the  Deacon,  in  a  very  decided 
tone,  u  and  I  shall  neither  accept  the  goods  or  pay 
the  bill."  "  You  will  not  ?  "  rejoined  the  yery 
indignant  clerk.  "  Why,  my  good  sir,  you  look 
like  a  business  man,  and  do  you  pretend  to  say 
that  you  expected  to  buy  such  shawls  as  those  for 

|  60  cents  a-piece  ?  The  thing  is  preposterous  on 
the  face  of  it.  What  hotel  do  you  stop  at,  I  shall 
send  up  the  package  and  insist  that  the  bill  be 

!  paid."  Such  a  procedure  and  exposure,  if  com- 
ing to  the  ears  of  his  waggish  friends  at  home, 
would  have  cost  Deacon  P.  the  entire  yearly 
receipts  of  his  soda  fountain  ;  so  the  finale  was 

( that  he  took  away  two  shawls  at  $6  each,  such  as 
he  could  have  bought  of  his  next  door  neighbor 

(at  S3. 25,  and  abandoned  the  remaining  dollars  of 
his  gold  eagle  to  the  auctioneer  to  pay  the  expense 
and  commissions  for  re-selling  the  rest  of  his  pur- 

'  chase.  "  Let  him  that  standeth  take  heed  lest  he 
fall,"  is  the  advice  the  Deacon  freely  gives  to  his 
friends  bound  to  New  York. 

In  a  like  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  the  writer  of  this 
particular  paragraph  admits,  that  several  years 

j  since  he  himself  had  half  a  million  of  needles 


'22 


stuck  into  him  by  a  very  skillful  New  York  auc- 
tioneer and  his  three  assistants,  when  truly  he  had 
bargained  for  but  a  thousand  ;  he  makes  this  con- 
fession with  a  view  to  induce  others  whose  experi- 
ence in  various  ways,  if  detailed  in  this  work, 
would  serve  the  public"  good,  to  send  in  their  nar- 
ratives to  the  publisher ;  and  he  has  not  a  doubt 
if  a  tithe  of  those  "  who  could  tell  a  tale  "  would 
come  forward,  the  company  would  be  very  respect- 
able in  numbers,  at  least. 


CHAPTER  II. 


POCKET-BOOK     DROPPERS,  THIMBLE-RIGGERS, 
AND    PATENT-SAEE  SWINDLERS. 

Probably  the  greatest  fools  in  this  clusty  vale 
of  tears,  are  two-and-sixpenny  knaves  ;  men  silly 
enough  to  be  constantly  endeavoring  to  overreach 
their  fellow-travellers  in  this  piggish  world,  by 
low  cunning  and  petty  meanness,  and  small  tricks 
contemptible  enough  to  cause  the  cheek  of  an 
honest  man  to  blush  with  shame,  and  make  him 
want  to  box,  the  ears  of  grand-mother  Eve  for 
having  brought  into  the  world  such  a  scurvy  set 
of  brats. 

There  is  one  comfort  about  the  thing,  however, 
which  is  that  these  would-be  smart  chaps  are  not 
unfrequently  caught  in  their  own  traps,  and  some- 
times cut  their  own  fingers  with  the  tools  they 
have  carefully  sharpened  for  somebody  else. — 
That's  the  time  when  honest  men  must  rejoice, 
and  throw  up  their  caps,  and  kick  up  their  heels 
and  have  a  good  time  generally.  Eor  there  is 
never  known  a  jolly  good  fellow  of  the  right 
stamp  who  sees  a  rogue  fairly  caught  and  exposed 
in  a  little  bit  of  scampism  without  feeling  a  strong 
disposition  to  indulge  in  hilarious  fancy  horn- 
pipes, to  an  extent  that  would  make  his  heels  as 
tender  as  first  love,  and  his  knee-pans  rattle  like 


24 


a  quarter's  worth  of  small  change  in  a  wooden 
contribution-box. 

These  few  remarks  are  a  fitting  prelude  to  our 
little  sermon  on  Pocket  Book  Droppers  and 
Thimble-Riggers,  and  the  Patent- Safe  Games ; 
and  if  the  reader  does  not  see  the  relevancy 
thereof  before  we  get  to  "  seventeenthly,"  he'd 
better  step  up  to  the  Captain's  office  and  get  his 
money  back,  for  we  can  assure  him  that  he  hasn't 
got  sense  enough  to  get  his  five  cents'  worth  out 
of  this  little  volume. 

The  reason  why  these  remarks,  remarkable  as 
they  are  for  "  solid  chunks"  of  wisdom,  and  for 
their  winning  and  particularly  jolly  gracefulness, 
are  appropriate  upon  this  occasion,  is  this  : — No 
man,  boy  or  green-horn  was  ever  yet  victimized 
by  the  Pocket-Book  Droppers,  the  Thimble-Rig- 
gers, or  the  Patent-Safe  men,  who  didn't  have  so 
strong  a  spice  of  the  scamp  in  his  own  composi- 
tion as  to  think  he  was  coming  a  sure  and  profit- 
able swindle  upon  some  one  not  up  to  his  own 
level  of  sharpness  and  treachery.  These  three 
games  are  all  levelled  at  that  particular  trait  of 
human  nature  which  makes  men  desire  to  grab 
and  pocket  somebody's  spare  cash,  without  ren- 
dering an  equivalent  therefor ;  and  the  very  rea- 
son why  so  many  persons  are  losers  by  them,  is 
that  the  great  majority  of  mankind  are  so  highly 
seasoned  with  roguery  that  it  comes  to  the  sur- 
face with  the  slightest  provocation.  There  are 
hundreds  of  men  pretending  to  be  civilized,  who 
although  they  wouldn't  commit  murder  or  high- 
way robbery,  and  probably  wouldn't  pick  pockets 
for  fear  of  being  detected  in  that  fashionable  re- 
creation, would,  nevertheless,  pocket  a  man's  last 
dime  without  remorse,  if  they  could  get  hold  of 
it  under  color  of  a  bet  or  a  bargain.    One  of  the 


25 


permitted  amusements  of  a  good  Christian  is  to 
keep  a  sharp  eye  on  these  would-be-sharpers,  and 
to  laugh  clean  down  to  his  toe-nails  when  he  sees 
one  of  them  out-sharped  ;  and  great  is  the  rejoic- 
ing of  his  charitable  heart  when  he  beholds  those 
who  go  out  for  wool  come  home  shorn. 

Pocket-Book  Dropping  may  be  almost  consid- 
ered as  one  of  the  by-gones ;  it  being  very  seldom 
attempted  except  in  cases  of  very  aggravated  ver- 
dancy on  the  part  of  the  victim.  It  is  always 
done  in  the  same  manner,  and  the  tools  necessary 
for  the  perfect  performance  of  this  little  comedy 
are  a  green-horn,  one,  or  perhaps  two  sharpers, 
and  an  old  pocket-book  full  of  counterfeit  or 
broken  bank  bills. 

Perhaps  the  best  way  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
plan,  is  to  detail  the  experience  of  an  individual 
whom  we  will  call  Ned  Underbill,  and  which  one 
circumstance  is  only  one  of  twenty  years'  series 
of  verdant  things  in  which  Underbill  aforesaid, 
has  been  engaged  all  his  life. 

When  Ned  first  came  to  New  York,  in  1849, 
;  before  he  had  got  the  hay- seed  out  of  his  hair,  he 
was  one  day  strolling  up  Chatham  street,  admir- 
ing the  manifold  curiosities  of  that  Israelitish  lo- 
cality. He  had  resolutely  repulsed  all  the  hook- 
nosed Hebrews,  who  wanted  him  to  buy  second- 
hand clothing,  and,  with  a  hard-heartedncss,  which 
has  utterly  deserted  him  later  in  life,  had  shown 
himself  proof  against  the  seductions  of  a  black- 
eyed  Jewess,  who  had  tried  to  persuade  him  that 
a  pair  of  pantaloons,  big  enough  for  half  a  dozen 
Scotch  giants  rolled  into  one,  were  just  the  thing 
for  him,  "the  tip-top  of  the  fashion  and  a  sphlen- 
did  fit,"  when  suddenly  a  pocket-book  was  drop- 
ped at  his  feet,  and  as  suddenly  picked  up  by  a 


26 


well-dressed  young  man  who  was  apparently  in  a 
furious  hurry. 

The  well-dressed  young  man  asked  Ned  if  it 
was  his  pocket-book.  The  devil  in  Ned's  checked 
shirt-bosom  suggested  that  he  should  say  "  Yes," 
and  pocket  the  book  without  further  question,  but 
somehow  he  actually  said  "  No,"  a  piece  of  un- 
premeditated honesty  which  quite  took  him  by 
surprise.  The  well-dressed  young  man  walked  by 
his  side,  and  opened  the  treasure,  disclosing  to  the 
astonished  gaze  of  Ned  a  number  of  bills  of  the 
denomination  of  tens,  twenties  and  fifties. 

"  Very  strange,"  said  the  stranger,  "  here,  I 
must  leave  the  city  on  the  first  train,  and  what  to 
do  with  this  money  I  really  don't  know.  There 
seems  to  be  several  hundred  dollars  of  it ;  it  will 
of  course  be  advertised  in  the  morning,  and  a  large 
reward  offered ;  it's  too  bad  that  I  can't  stay  to 
get  it ;  no  one  will  think  of  offering  less  than  one 
hundred  dollars  for  the  recovery,  and  I  must  go  to 
New  Haven  on  the  next  train,  for  my  poor  uncle 
is  dying." 

Ned  couldn't  volunteer  any  aid,  for  he  didn't 
feel  exactly  delicate  about  offering  to  relieve  the 
man  either  of  his  newly  found  treasure  or  his 
dying  uncle.  But  a  sudden  thought  came  to  the 
stranger,  and  he  acted  upon  it  instantly.  Turn- 
ing to  Ned,  he  again  spoke,  "  See  here,  friend, 
you  look  like  an  honest  man,  and  I  feel  that  I  can 
trust  this  matter  with  you.  I'll  give  you  this 
monev,  and  divide  the  reward  with  you.  Give 
me  fifty  dollars,  and  in  the  morning  you  can  re- 
store it  to  the  owner  and  pocket  the  full  reward." 

This  suited  Ned's  complaint  exactly,  but  he 
hadn't  the  fifty  ;  however,  he  raked  out  twenty- 
seven  dollars  and  a  silver  watch,  which  he  passed 
over  to  the  accommodating  stranger,  and  received 


27 


the  pocket-book,  while  the  man  with  the  dying 
uncle  made  tracks  into  the  dim  distance. 

The  honest  Underbill  tucked  the  treasure  under 
his  checked  shirt,  hugged  it  to  his  heart,  fully  in- 
tending to  appropriate  the  entire  amount  to  his 
own  private  use,  and  hurried  to  his  room  at  his 
cheap  Greenwich  street  tavern,  where  he  locked 
himself  in  and  proceeded  to  count  his  treasure- 
trove. 

The  sequel  can  of  course  be  imagined.  There 
were  bank  bills  to  the  amount  of  two  hundred  dol- 
lars, Wild  Cat  Michigan  money,  broke  all  to  flin- 
ders fourteen  months  before,  and  worth  about  a 
dollar  and  a  half  a  ton.  The  remaining  bulk  was 
made  up  of  fly-leaves  torn  out  of  a  shilling  Testa- 
ment. 

My  gentle  Edwin  was  sold ;  my  gentle  Edwin 
forgot  his  gentleness  and  swore  fearfully ;  but  no 
amount  of  profanity,  however  excusable  under 
the  circumstances,  could  bring  back  that  twenty- 
seven  dollars,  good  money — could  restore  that 
silver  watch,  or  give  him  a  single  minute's  private 
interview  with  the  gentleman  who  was  in  such  a 
hurry  to  get  to  New  Haven  to  see  his  respected 
uncle  kick  the  bucket. 

This  is  the  whole  mystery  of  the  pocket-book 
game ;  the  complete  thing  reduced  to  a  point — 
the  entire  secret  boiled  down  to  half  a  gill,  so  that 
it  can  be  taken  at  a  dose,  and  thoroughly  cure  our 
readers  of  any  liability  to  be  imposed  upon  and 
humbugged  by  New  York  Pocket-Book  Droppers. 

THE  THIMBLE-RIG  DODGE. 

The  Thimble-Rigger  is  a  bird  of  passage  ;  that 
is  to  say,  he  is  continually  on  the  wing.  He  is 
particularly  prevalent  about  race-courses,  cricket- 


28 


grounds,  and  wherever  there  may  be  an  idle  crowd 
collected  away  from  the  city,  with  a  spare  sprink- 
ling of  green-horns  in  it  ;  and  it  is  only  the  very 
green  ones  who  arc  verdant  enough  to  be  taken  in 
by  him,  for  the  very  appearance  of  the  man  is 
enough,  in  most  cases,  to  deter  a  person  with  even 
a  scanty  allowance  of  brains  from  risking  any 
spare  cash  on   the  "  little  joker."    The  imple- 
ments used  in  this  game  are  very  simple,  and  con- 
sist of  a  little  stand,  three  thimbles  and  a  little 
ball  about  the  size  of  a  small  pea.    Not  unfre- 
quently  the  operator  dispenses  with  the  stand 
altogether,  and  uses  his  knee  instead.    He  puts 
the  pea  under  one  of  the  thimbles  in  the  full  sight 
of  everybody,  changes  it  from  one  to  another  a 
few  times,  and  then  in  a  confident  voice,  challen- 
ges any  one  to  bet  under  which  thimble  the  pea, 
or  "  little  joker  "  is.    He  has  a  little  bit  of  leger- 
demain by  means  of  which  he  changes  the  pea 
from  one  thimble  to  another  imperceptibly,  and 
in  a  manner  absolutely  impossible  to  be  detected 
by  inexperienced  eyes.    It  therefore  follows,  that 
if  a  man  is  so  confident  that  he  knows  the  exact 
whereabouts  of  the  "  little  joker,"  that  he  is  will- 
ing to  bet  his  money  on  it,  he  must  inevitably 
lose.    The  sharper  in  moving  the  pea  about  from 
one  position  to  another,  unconsciously,  to  all  ap- 
pearances, allows  the  bystanders  to  see  him,  in  ap- 
parently the  fairest  manner  possible,  place  it  un- 
der one  of  the  thimbles.  Some  victim,  then,  think- 
ing to  take  advantage  of  what  appears  to  him  an 
inadvertance  on  the  part  of  the  gambler,  offers  to 
stake  a  certain  amount  of  money  that  he  can  point 
out  the  position  of  the  little  ball.    The  sharper  at 
once  puts  up  the  cash,  and  when  the  green  one 
with  a  triumphant  smile  points  out  the  thimble 
which  as  he  supposes  covers  the  nimble  little 


29 


sphere,  to  his  great  astonishment  it  has  disap- 
peared and  is  discovered  snugly  concealed  under 
an  unsuspected  thimble,  whither  it  has  been  cun- 
ningly conveyed  by  the  quick  finger  and  thumb 
of  the  gambler.  The  thimble-rigger  is  always 
surrounded  by  a  few  fellows  who  are  confederates, 
and  whose  business  it  is  to  encourage  outsiders  to 
risk  their  money,  and  also  to  protect  their  princi- 
pal in  case  of  any  muss. 

Frank  Otter,  an  ugly  looking  specimen  of  back- 
wood's  humanity,  was  victimized  by  the  thimble- 
rig  game.  After  he  had  resided  two  years  and  a 
half  in  this  city  ;  so  deep -seated  was  the  natural 
greenness  in  his  system,  it  seemed  to  be  constitu- 
tional ;  and  although  he  is  now  a  jour  printer  of 
moderate  repsectability,  there  is  still  a  strong  dash 
of  the  old-time  verdancy  in  his  character. 

Frank  went  to  the  Long  Island  race  course, 
where  he  encountered  a  knight  of  the  thimble. 
Frank  had  heard  of  the  game  before,  but  Frank 
thought  himself  so  particulary  up  to  snuff  that  he 
was  perfectly  safe ;  so  Frank  stood  by  to  see  the 
game  go  on,  and  see  if  he  could  follow  the  "  little 
joker  "  on  his  travels,  and  mark  his  stopping  places 
every  time.  The  Artful  Dodger,  who  was  regard- 
ing him  with  a  speculative  eye,  humored  his  cus- 
tomer, and  in  five  minutes  Frank  thought  he  had 
got  the  hang  of  the  thing  completely — he  laughed 
long  and  loud  at  the  wrong  guesses  of  several  of 
the  by-standers  fwho  he  afterwards  found  were 

Eartners  in  the  game),  and  complimented  himself 
ugely  on  his  sagacity.  So  certain  was  he  that 
he  had  caught  the  trick,  that  at  last  he  bet  a  ten 
spot  to  prove  the  accuracy  of  his  observation. 
Frank  lost  of  course.  Perceiving  that  he  had  been 
swindled  he  determined  on  revenge,  speedy  and 
effective  —  to  that  end   he  with  commendable 


30 


promptness  and  presence  of  mind,  knocked  the 
Thimble-Rig-man  about  four  rods,  with  a  single 
blow  of  his  fist,  for  he  had  a  hand  like  a  quarter 
of  beef,  and  a  foot  like  a  range  of  leather  moun- 
tains. 

The  belligerant  printer,  however,  only  got  one 
single  broadside  into  the  enemy,  before  he  was 
boarded  by  the  whole  crew,  who  pummelled  him 
till  his  face  looked  as  if  somebody  had  used  his 
head  to  fight  bumble-bees  with.  He  found  his 
way  to  a  low  shop  where  he  bathed  his  face  in  rum 
to  take  out  the  swelling.  It  is  supposed  that  he 
must  accidentally  have  swallowed  some  of  the 
liquor,  for  he  was  found  two  days  after  by  a  watch- 
man trying  to  unlock  the  Crystal  Palace  with  a 
night-key,  so  that  he  could  go  to  bed  in  the  dome. 

We  need  hardly  caution  those  who  peruse  this 
pamphlet,  never  to  bet  on  the  Thimble- Rig  Game, 
for  we  earnestly  believe  that  those  who  have  cau- 
tion enough  to  invest  five  cents  in  this  book,  and 
sense  enough  to  read  it,  will  have  too  much  of 
both  to  be  gulled  by  the  shallow  swindling  of  the 
New  York  Thimble-Riggers. 

THE    PATENT-SAFE  GAME. 

Safe,  safe,  Patent-Safe,  what  does  he  mean,  I 
wonder  ?  There  you  go,  young  Innocence,  think- 
ing of  Herring's  Fire  Proof,  or  Wilder's  Patent 
Salamander,  I'll  be  bound.  The  Safe  to  which  I 
refer,  is  no  such  cumbrous  and  ponderous  ma- 
chine, but  a  most  ingenious  little  device  to  do 
spoonies  out  of  their  funds.  The  "Patent  Safe," 
frequently  called  the  "  Mexican  Puzzle,"  and 
sometimes  known  as  the  "  Chinese  Balls,"  is  a 
small  ivory  or  wooden  ball,  having  two  concealed 
apartments  ;  the  sufferer,  however,  knows  nothing 


31 


of  the  existence  of  the  second  one,  until  the  in- 
stant he  discovers  that  he  has  been  cleverly  duped 
by  a  pair  of  confederate  sharpers. 

The  manner  of  using  it  is  as  follows  :  one  of 
the  swindlers  having  made  the  acquaintance  of 
the  intended  victim,  induces  him  to  make  a  short 
pleasure  excursion  for  an  hour  or  tw  o,  to  the 
Elysian  Fields,  at  Hoboken,  to  Greenwood,  to 
Statcn  Island,  or  some  near  by  retired  spot.  Once 
there  they  fall  in  with  the  other  swindler,  who  af- 
fects to  be  a  stranger  to  both  of  them,  and  in  the 
course  of  conversation  this  latter  person  produces 
the  "  Safe,"  and  exhibits  it  as  a  curiosity.  Open- 
ing one  of  the  secret  compartments,  he  shows  a 
little  bit  of  paper  enclosed  therein.  The  other 
scamp  now  borrows  the  little  instrument,  and  in 
the  sight  of  the  stranger  he  opens  it  and  takes  out 
the  piece  of  paper,  and  throws  it  away,  the  owner 
of  the  ball  in  the  meantime  looking  the  other  way 
or  engaging  himself  with  something  else. 

The  safe  is  now  returned  to  the  owner,  and  his 
confederate  commences  bantering  him  for  a  bet, 
about  the  piece  of  paper  inside.  A  bet  is  eventu- 
ally made  up  between  the  two,  and  the  owner  of 
the  safe  puts  up  his  money,  when  the  other  one 
discovers  that  he  has  not  enough  by  a  hundred  or 
two  dollars  to  cover  the  amount.  He  accordingly 
proposes  to  borrow  of  the  stranger  that  amount 
for  just  five  minutes,  proposing  to  give  him  half 
the  winnings.  The  victim  having  seen  the  paper 
abstracted,  and  of  course  feeling  confident  that 
his  companion  will  win  and  repay  him  at  once, 
immediately  hands  him  over  the  cash.  The  owner 
of  the  ball  now  opens  the  second  compartment, 
and  produces  another  piece  of  paper,  thus  winning 
the  bet ;  he  then  at  once  makes  off  with  the  money, 
and  divides  with  his  companion,  who  soon  con- 


32 


trivcs  to  rid  himself  of  the  stranger,  who  being  now 
squeezed  as  dry  as  a  lemon,  is  of  no  further  use. 
The  spoils  are  divided,  mid  the  despoiled  sufferer 
has  to  grin  and  bear  it. 

This  is  the  modux  operandi  of  the  "Patent 
Safe."  There  are  of  course  some  slight  varia- 
tions from  this  formula,  but  the  general  features 
as  thus  given  will  apply  to  most  eases.  It  is  one 
of  the  many  Confidenee  games  by  which  unwary 
strangers  are  fleeced,  and  which  are  so  called  from 
the  fact  that  the  swindlers  first  make  the  acquaint- 
ance, and  secure  to  a  certain  extent,  the  confidence 
of  his  proposed  game.  The  most  ingenious  de- 
vices are  resorted  to  by  this  class  of  sharpers  to 
ingratiate  themselves  into  the  good  opinion  of  de- 
sirable strangers  with  big  money  bags.  They  dis- 
play a  perseverance,  which  in  another  calling 
would  be  most  praiseworthy.  If  a  Confidence  man 
was  a  tinker,  and  exhibited  half  the  enterprise  in 
the  legitimate  exercise  of  that  gay  business  that 
he  does  in  robbing  honester  people,  he  could  in  a 
year  make  tin  pans  enough  to  shingle  America,  or 
construct  a  pile  of  copper  tea-kettles  that  would 
rival  in  size  the  old  he-Pyramid  itself.  They  mani- 
fest a  wonderful  tact — laying  their  plans  deep, 
and  always  contriving  to  spring  the  trap  when 
their  victim  becomes  ripe  for  their  purpose  by 
having  a  large  sum  of  money  with  him.  Some 
of  them  make  a  systematic  business  of  it,  sparing 
no  money  or  pains,  or  time,  to  thoroughly  secure 
the  confidence  of  the  man  they  want  to  plunder, 
the  object  being  to  throw  him  completely  off  his 
guard ;  many  a  man  lives  for  days  on  terms  of 
jovial  good  fellowship  with  some  roystering  blade 
he  picks  up  at  the  fashionable  hotel  where  he 
stops  ;  and  enjoys  with  him  (oftentimes  scot  free,) 
champaign  and  oysters,  and  —  other  delicacies  of 


33 


the  season,  only  to  find  at  last,  that  his  boon  com- 
panion is  only  a  contemptible  black-leg,  intent 
upon  fleecing  him,  and  whose  sole  means  of  living 
are  cowardly  swindling. 

These  fellows  hang  round  the  principal  hotels 
in  great  numbers,  watching  their  chance  to  rob  a 
stranger  by  enticing  him  to  some  Gambling  Hell, 
or  where  they  come  the  Patent-Safe  Game  over 
him,  or  have  his  pocket  picked,  or  himself  robbed, 
perhaps  garrotted,  by  their  confederates. 

All  Patent- Safe  men,  however,  are  not  Confi- 
dence men  ;  many  infest  the  out-of-the-way  parks 
and  places  of  resort  and  interest  to  strangers,  con- 
tenting themselves  with  game  of  a  more  bumble 
class  than  that  which  patronizes  the  Astor  House 
or  St.  Kicholas  Hotel. 

It  was  with  a  party  of  these  chaps,  that  a  friend 
of  the  writer  had  an  adventure  in  Greenwood 
Cemetery.  Livingston  Welles,  for  such  is  his  ro- 
mantic cognomen,  is  a  Michigander  of  rather  mild 
appearance  externally,  green  as  a  frog,  but  with 
the  courage  of  fifty-six  boiled-down  devils  in  him, 
and  the  strength  of  a  high-pressure  steam  engine 
to  back  him  up.  Welles  went  to  Greenwood,  and 
during  his  visit,  while  standing  about  with  a  cigar 
in  his  mouth,  was  accosted  by  several  individuals 
who,  after  some  conversation,  and  two  or  three 
big  drinks  from  a  private  bottle  of  theirs  behind  a 
tomb-stone,  got  him  to  bet  on  the  piece  of  paper 
in  the  little  wooden  ball. 

Livingston  bet  all  his  money,  his  watch  and 
chain  (the  gift  ot  an  elder  brother),  his  shirt  studs 
and  his  new  gaiters,  and  of  course,  he  lost  all, 
and  there  was  a  fair  chance  of  his  going  Lome  in 
his  stockings. 

The  other  chaps,  as  they  were  four  to  one,  did 


84 

not  apprehend  any  trouble,  and  began  to  make 
sport  of  the  verdant  youth. 

At  last,  it  got  through  his  then  rather  thick  head, 
that  he  had  been  fooled,  whereupon  he  took  off  his 
coat  and  struck  out  right  and  left,  a  la  Tom  Hyer. 
A  black-leg  fell  down  at  every  blow,  and  in  one 
minute  by  the  watch,  the  delegate  from  Michigan 
was  master  of  the  field.  He  dragged  the  pros- 
trate swindlers  into  a  pile  under  a  big  monument, 

inscribed   "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  

and  battered  their  heads  against  the  marble  till 
they  were  as  mellow  as  harvest  apples. 

Then  he  re-captured  his  own  money  and  prop- 
erty, took  the  last  drink  of  their  private  brandy, 
broke  the  bottle  over  the  head  of  the  ring-leader, 
and  victoriouslv  walked  away. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  these  fellows  are 
sometimes  beaten  at  their  own  game,  they  are  very 
unsafe  and  unprofitable  persons  to  have  to  do  with, 
and  we  recommend  our  readers,  who  visit  the  big 
city,  to  steer  clear  of  the  Patent- Safe,  and  keep  a 
sharp  look  out  for  Confidence  Men, 


CHAPTER  III. 


PICK— POCKETS — MALE  AND  FEMALE. 

Now  we've  said  our  little  say  about  the  swin- 
dlers, who  take  money  from  inexperienced  per- 
sons under  the  guise  of  a  wager,  or  similar  sort  of 
half-way  fairness  and  give-a-man-a-chance-for-his- 
life-ish-ness,  we  come  by  a  regular  gradation  up  to 
a  higher  class  of  dishonorables,  a  more  honest 
kind  of  thieves,  the  regular  pick-pockets.  More 
honest  did  we  say  ?  Well,  we  don't  mean  exactly 
that,  but  less  contemptible;  for  we  hold  that  the 
individual  who  steals  money  from  your  pocket 
and  sneaks  away  before  you  catch  him  at  it,  is  not 
half  so  mean  a  thief  as  that  one  who  inveigles  you 
into  a  bet,  and  not  only  takes  away  your  cash  but 
laughs  at  you  into  the  bargain. 

We're  very  glad  that  we've  got  done  with  these 
scurvy  knaves,  and  as  we  wash  our  hands  of  their 
dirty  tricks,  we  come  with  a  certain  feeling  of 
relief  to  the  more  endurable  and  in  a  certain  sense 
chivalrous  class  of  rogues — pick-pockets,  highway 
robbers,  and  garrotters ;  chivalrous,  because  unlike 
the  former,  who  in  almost  every  case  are  allowed 
to  go  free  upon  giving  up  their  plunder,  these 
carry  their  three  or  ten  year  handcuffs  in  all  their 
ventures  ;  and  more  endurable  from  not  causing  a 
man  to  feel  like  a  ninny  as  well  as  a  victim.  But 
before  dismissing  this  portion  of  our  subject,  we 


36 


feel  impelled  to  say  to  our  readers  that  the  "  drop 
game  is  not  always  played  with  broken  bank 
bills  and  brown  paper,  or  "  thimble-rig  "  with  a 
"  little  joker."  There  is  another  class  of  these 
practitioners  who,  compared  with  those  we  have 
above  ventilated,  are  as  sharks  to  pickerel,  or  as 
whales  to  pond-suckers.  How  many  who  read 
these  pages  will  admit,  with  a  long-drawn  sigh, 
that  in  the  manoeuvres  we  have  just  exposed  they 
discern  the  identical  process  by  which  in  Wall,  or 
State,  or  Third  streets,  they  have  through  Insur- 
ance and  Mining  shares,  and  Railroad  and  Bank 
stocks,  been  victimized  out  of  all  they  possessed. 
No  matter  what  your  sex  or  what  your  position 
in  life,  dear  readers,  there  is  a  moral  for  each  one 
of  you  in  every  chapter  in  this  half-dime  book  ;  be 
wise  then,  and  gather  from  its  pages  all  the  instruc- 
tion, and  from  its  examples  all  the  applications 
possible — to  some  of  you  it  may  prove  worth  five 
cents  the  letter. 

There  is  something  about  the  business  of  pick- 
ing pockets  that  is  particularly  charming. — ■ 
What  it  is  beside  its  emoluments  and  daring  ex- 
citements, is  not  to  be  easily  told  ;  but  there  are 
many  amateurs  in  it  besides  the  regular  profes- 
sionals. It  is  only  the  unpractised  experimenters 
in  the  graceful  art,  that  are  ever  caught  in  the  act ; 
the  thorough-bred  pick-pocket  selects  so  well  his 
victim,  his  time  and  opportunity,  that  these  joined 
with  his  dexterous  way  of  doing  the  job,  render 
him  almost  exempt  from  detection. 

Pick-pockets  are  of  both  sexes  ;  indeed  the  fe- 
males are  the  more  successful,  possibly  because 
less  liable  to  suspicion  ;  no  man  of  any  gallantry 
whatever  would  ever  suspect  that  the  black-eyed, 
red-lipped,  cherry-cheeked  beauty,  so  faultlessly 
and  fashionably  arrayed,  who  sits  opposite  him  in 


37 


#n  omnibus  was  a  professional  thief— or  for  a  mo- 
ment imagine  that  at  the  very  moment  he  is 
most  admiring  her  many  charms,  she  is  endeavor- 
ing to  perfect  a  plan  to  rob  him  of  his  purse  and 
possibly  his  watch  and  breast-pin,  as  she  brushes 
past  him  in  getting  out  of  the  stage.  Yet  it  is 
even  so — such  are  the  ways  of  the  world,  and  the 
wickedness  of  women. 

Pick-pockets  go  well  dressed ;  it  is  the  very  ne- 
cessity of  their  profession ;  their  fashionable  attire 
and  slap-up  appearance  generally,  are  the  key 
which  admits  them  among  the  very  respectable 
but  exceeding  innocent  and  unsuspecting  people 
whose  surplus  cash  they  design  to  appropriate  to 
their  own  pressing  necessities.  They  often,  how- 
ever, expose  themselves  to  the  experienced  eye 
by  over-doing  this  ; — mounting  a  profusion  of  jew- 
elry, and  wearing  embroidered  bosomed  shirts, 
and  pants  and  coats  of  the  most  stunning  pat- 
terns, far  transcending  all  limits  of  good  taste. — 
In  this  however  they  are  rivalled  by  the  gamblers, 
and  even  the  rich  fast  men  of  the  town, who  make 
great  pretensions  to  immaculate  respectability; 
so  that  really  it  is  sometimes  a  very  difficult  mat- 
ter to  tell  a  pick-pocket  from  one  of  the  aristo- 
cratic "  bloods  "  of  the  city. 

The  female  pick-pockets  are  also  generally  at- 
tired in  the  most  elaborate  style — and  at  this  time 
like  many  of  their  sisters  of  a  more  indelicate 
profession,  frequently  carry  such  an  expanse  of 
crinoline  and  other  mysterious  contrivances,  that 
it  is  quite  a  journey  to  travel  round  one  of  them  ; 
all  the  flummery  in  the  way  of  laces,  trimmings, 
jewelry,  and  the  thousand  expensive  nothings  of 
female  attire  which  can  be  piled  on  to  a  fashionable 
lady,  are  worn  by  these  feminine  rascals.  Not  a 
few  of  them  are  very  beautiful,  and  employ  all  their 


38 


fascinations  in  the  way  of  business,  to  throw  the 
intended  victim  off  his  guard  while  the  robbery  is 
being  accomplished. 

The  pick-pocket  is  never  at  home  except  in  a 
crowd  ;  then  only  can  they  work  to  full  advantage 
and  without  exciting  suspicion ;  and  therefore 
whenever  there  is  a  rush  of  people  to  any  particu- 
lar spot,  then  are  these  gentry  the  first  on  hand. 
They  are  always  in  full  feather  at  Steamboat  Ex- 
cursions, Grand  Railroad  Jubilees,  Conventions, 
State  Fairs  and  public  shows  of  all  kinds. 

In  New  York  they  are  particularly  to  be  found 
at  the  places  of  amusement.  Two  of  them,  a  male 
and  female,  will  frequently  attend  the  theatre  or 
opera  together,  and  in  the  crush  of  getting  in  and 
out,  they  generally  contrive  to  secure  some  rich 
plunder,  and  being  dressed  in  the  height  of  fash- 
ion, and  to  all  appearances  the  very  pink  of  re- 
spectability, suspicion  is  disarmed,  and  their  true 
character  is  never  suspected  by  their  unfortunate 
victims  until  too  late  to  reach  them.  The  wo- 
men frequent  the  cars,  omnibuses,  and  stores ;  on 
pleasant  days,  when  the  latter  are  thronged  with 
customers,  they  may  be  found  busily  engaged  pric- 
ing goods,  and  ladies  when  shopping  should 
avoid  coming  in  personal  contact  with  strangers 
however  well  appearing,  or  fashionably  dressed. 

Female  pick-pockets  confine*  their  attentions 
mostly  to  their  own  sex ;  and  as  they  are  familiar 
with  all  the  intricate  mysteries  of  the  female  ward- 
robe, they  are  perfectly  qualified  to  search  out  the 
hidden  hoard  however  cunningly  concealed. — 
Their  mode  of  operating  is  by  means  of  a  very 
sharp  knife  or  pair  of  scissors,  by  the  dexterous 
use  of  which  they  take  away  the  entire  pocket 
when  necessary,  or  cut  into  and  extract  therefrom 
the  porte-monnaie  or  purse,  which  is  quickly  emp- 


39 


tied  and  thrown  away.  Some  pick-pockets  use  a 
small  blade  of  razor-like  sharpness  attached  to  a 
finger-ring  ;  a  knowledge  of  this  fact  may  enable 
some  men  to  account  for  a  delicate  slit  in  their 
clothing  not  made  by  the  shears  of  their  tailor. 

Another  method  of  pocket  robbing  to  some  ex- 
tent in  vogue,  is  through  the  agency  of  Chloro- 
form. As  an  example,  we  quote  the  following 
from  one  of  our  city  papers  : — 

"  Chloroform  is  being  used  in  thefts  with  great 
adroitness  and  frequency.  A  Mrs.  Fitzgerald  was 
riding  in  one  of  the  New  York  omnibuses  on  Tues- 
day, when  another  well  dressed  lady  entered,  and 
apparently  took  out  her  handkerchief  and  passed 
it  carelessly  two  or  three  times  before  Mrs.  F.'s 
face,  who  observed  a  peculiar  odor,  but  recollects 
nothing  further  until  she  woke  up  and  found  the 
other  lady  gone,  and  her  own  pockets  thoroughly 
stripped  of  everything  valuable." 

This  same  manoeuvre  has  been  put  in  practice 
in  Railroad  cars,  upon  both  lady  and  gentleman 
passengers  by  both  male  and  female  scoundrels ; 
indeed  upon  a  night  train  the  thing  would  be  most 
convenient.  People  travelling,  and  especially 
ladies,  should  have  a  care  as  to  who  sits  behside 
them ;  and  be  very  chary  of  accepting  a  "  little 
cordial,"  or  "smelling  salts  "  from  the  hands  of  a 
stranger. 

It  is  said  the  Parisian  thieves  are  much  more 
expert  than  those  of  New  York,  making  use  of 
ingenious  contrivances  not  known  here.  Among 
other  things  they  are  said  to  manage  to  do  a  good 
business  in  vehicles,  by  the  use  of  false  hands  and 
amis ;  the  fictitious  members  are  allowed  to  repose 
quietly  in  the  lap  of  the  operator,  thus  putting  at 
rest  ail  suspicion,  while  the  real  hands  are  making 
little  voyages  of  exploration  into  the  pockets  of 


40 


the  adjoining  people.  No  case  of  this  kind  has 
to  our  knowledge  been  detected  in  our  immacu- 
late city  of  New  York,  but  we  have  no  doubt  our 
enterprising  rascals  will  introduce  this  inglorious 
foreign  custom,  when  they  find  their  own  devices 
fail  them.  And  as  applicable  toother  manoeuvres 
as  well  as  this  in  question,  we  would  say  to  all  our 
readers,  when  seated  beside  strangers,  whether  in 
coach,  car,  theatres  or  conventions,  never  allow 
that  stranger's  cape,  shawl,  mantilla  or  dress  to 
rest  concealingly  over  that  part  of  your  person 
where  your  money  is  deposited. 

The  best  way  to  avoid  pick-pockets,  is  to  keep 
out  of  crowds.  In  cities  this  rule  applies  to  all 
classes  and  to  almost  all  circumstances  ;  well 
knowing  they  cannot  operate  effectually  except  in 
a  throng,  the  lower  class  of  thieves  frequently  re- 
sort to  numerous  ingenious  devices  to  draw  a 
crowd  together.  They  sometimes  get  up  sham 
fights  at  the  steamboat  landings  railroad  depots, 
and  to  give  the  thing  a  real  look,  stand  regular 
licks  and  bloody  noses  ;  in  the  rush  and  pressure 
to  see  the  fun,  the  accomplices  of  the  combatants 
usually  contrive  to  do  a  very  handsome  business. 

The  true  way  to  avoid  losing  by  these  cunning 
rogues,  is  to  carry  but  little  money  about  the  per- 
son. Here,  you  young  Innocent  from  the  country, 
when  you  come  to  see  the  Elephant  the  first  thing 
you  do,  go  to  a  respectable  hotel,  or  to  the  store 
of  some  trusty  friend,  and  have  the  bulk  of  your 
cash  deposited  in  a  safe  ;  never  perambulate  the 
city  with  more  money  than  is  sufficient  to  pay 
your  way  handsomely.  Few  city  men  as  a  gen- 
eral thing  carry  in  their  pockets  larger  sums  than 
five  or  ten  dollars.  Then,  if  the  pocket  is  rob- 
bed, the  amount  the  thief  gets  is  not  enough  to 
make  him  in  love  with  his  profession ;  nor  is  it 


41 


«jiough  to  make  the  loser  insolvent,  unless  he  is 
cuing  business  on  a  very  small  capital. 

Of  the  multitude  of  cases  of  petty  pocket  rob- 
bery which  have  been  reported  in  the  papers,  per- 
haps one  single  case  will  suffice  as  an  illustration 
and  warning. 

A  young  Englishman,  one  of  the  true  cockney 
sort,  who  could  no  more  put  his  "  h's "  in  the 
right  place,  than  he  could  put  his  head  into  his 
boots,  came  from  the  old  country  in  his  youth, 
and  settled  in  some  barbarous  county  of  New 
Jersey,  where  in  addition  to  his  English  infelici- 
ties ot  speech  and  manner,  he  acquired  some  Jer- 
sey peculiarities,  which  it  might  be  supposed  would 
entirely  unfit  him  forever  for  the  companionship 

of  civilized  beings  however  this  is  not  to  the 

purpose. 

The  name  of  our  young  cockney  appropri- 
ately enough  is  England ;  and  he  bears  the  Scrip- 
ture pre-nomen  of  Isaac.  After  several  years  so- 
journ of  Isaac  in  the  Jersey  wilds,  he  decided  to 
visit  New  York  and  seek  his  fortune. 

Ike  was  shrewd  enough  to  tell  a  steam  saw-mill 
from  a  wild  pigeon,  and  could  distinguish  with 
remarkable  accuracy  between  a  blackberry  bush 
and  a  log-cabin  ;  and  hence  gathered  confidence 
that  he  could  open  that  huge  oyster,  the  world, 
and  extract  the  savory  meat,  without  pricking  his 
fingers  with  the  shells.  After  due  preparation 
Ike  came  to  the  city,  which  he  immediately  pro- 
nounced to  be  considerable  of  a  village,  but  noth- 
ing to  what  we  "  ave  in  Hingland  ;  "  Ike  how- 
ever, bad  heard  enough  of  the  "  tricks  and  traps  " 
of  this  interesting  town,  to  convince  him  that  the 
thieves  and  swindlers  are  pretty  keen  in  their 
way,  and  the  sequel  satisfied  him  that  they  at  least 
are  fully  up  to  what  they  "  ave  in  Hingland." 


42 


With  commendable  prudence,  Ike  resolved  to 
make  sure  of  his  funds  so  that  no  New  York 
sharper  should  do  him  out  of  his  cash — he  was 
confident  in  his  ability  to  take  care  of  his  own 
money  as  well  as  anybody  else  could  do  it  for 
him,  and  therefore  did  not  leave  it  at  his  hotel ;  it 
was  not  wise  to  carry  it  loose ;  and  after  due  con- 
sideration he  hit  upon  the  notable  plan  of  sewing 
up  his  precious  store  in  his  pocket ;  judging  that 
if  he  himself  could  not  get  at  his  funds  without 
ripping  up  the  stitches,  no  one  else  would  be  able 
to  accomplish  the  feat.  Having  done  this,  and 
reserved  enough  small  change  to  pay  for  what 
beans  and  bread  he  might  be  disposed  to  consume 
in  the  course  of  the  day's  rambles,  Ike  started  out 
to  see  the  Lions. 

Time  passed  quickly  away ;  Ike  opened  wide 
his  fish-grey  eyes,  for  he  saw  more  wonders  than 
he  ever  dreamed  of  even  in  "  Hingland."  He 
made  many  acquaintances,  such  as  they  were;  for 
a  habit  of  asking  many  questions  led  him  into 
many  very  queer  places,  and  among  the  rest  of 
his  new  found  friends  was  a  pretty  black-eyed 
maiden,  in  seeming  great  distress,  whom  he  met 
in  Chatham  street,  just  in  the  edge  of  the  evening. 
She  accosted  him,  grew  very  confidential,  and 
gently  drew  him  into  an  alley-way,  where  unob- 
served she  might  recount  to  him  her  woes  ;  and 
finally  so  touched  upon  his  sensitive  feelings  that 
he  was  disposed  to  relieve  her  necessities  with  a 
liberal  portion  of  his  money  ;  on  putting  his  hand 
to  his  pocket,  however,  it  encountered  the  precau- 
tionary stitches  which  guarded  his  treasure,  and 
he  was  fain  to  limit  his  charity  to  giving  the  fasci- 
nating but  unfortunate  Jewess  all  the  small  change 
he  had  reserved  for  his  supper  and  evening  enjoy- 
ments. 


I  « 


43 


Making  a  hasty  promise  to  meet  her  at  the  same 
hour  the  next  evening,  he  tore  himself  away  from 
her  blandishments  and  took  himself  to  his  lodg- 
ings ;  on  arriving  there,  his  first  work  was  to  see 
that  his  money  was  all  right.  He  found  the  stitches 
as  he  had  placed  them  in  the  morning,  and 
greatly  felicitated  himself  upon  having  balked  the 
New  York  pick-pockets  ;  but  a  further  examina- 
tion convinced  him  his  money  was  gone — a  small 
slit  had  been  cut  in  his  pocket,  and  his  funds  ex- 
tracted through  this  new  place  of  exit. 

The  interesting  black-eyed  girl  had  done  it. — 
When  the  verdant  Isaac,  touched  to  the  heart  by 
her  tears,  had  put  his  hand  to  his  pocket  for  money, 
the  action  had  betrayed  to  his  fair  but  false  com- 
panion the  exact  locality  of  the  treasure.  It  was 
she  who  had  cut  the  pocket  and  extracted  the 
dimes,  and  this  too  after  Ike  had  given  her  all  the 
other  money  he  had  in  the  world. 

Isaac  now  thinks  New  York  pick-pockets  quite 
surpass  anything  they  "  av  in  Hingland ;  "  and  he 
has  so  far  lost  confidence  in  the  whole  female  sex 
since  that  little  occurrence,  that  he  solemnly  avers 
he  wouldn't  trust  any  woman  as  far  as  he  could 
throw  a  meeting-house  by  the  steeple,  or  a  four 
year  old  Elephant  by  its  tail. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


GARROTTERS    AND  HIGHWAYMEN. 

Of  course  our  readers  wish  to  know  something 
of  the  institution  of  Garrotting,  which  a  short  time 
ago  was  one  of  the  fashionable  amusements  of  our 
city.  Also,  of  the  knife  and  slung-shot  entertain- 
ments, to  which  strangers  and  even  our  own  citi- 
zens are  occasionally  invited  without  ceremony  to 
partake  of. 

Garrotting  is  the  Spanish  for  choking  ;  Garrot- 
ter is  the  Spanish  for  choker ;  but  what  the  Span- 
is  for  the  man  who  gets  choked,  we  don't  know 
and  don't  think  it  of  very  great  importance  to 
know. 

Garrotting  is  made  use  of  in  Spain,  in  Mexico, 
and  the  Spanish  colonies  generally,  as  a  means  of 
executing  condemned  criminals."  The  process  is 
that  of  seating  the  culprit  against  a  beam  from 
which  protrudes  a  sharp  spike  so  as  to  touch  the 
back  of  the  neck  ;  around  the  post  and  around  the 
victims  neck  passes  an  iron  collar,  which  by 
means  of  a  lever  and  screw  forces  the  spike  into  the 
spinal  column,  separating  the  vertebra?  and  caus- 
ing instant  death  ;  a  seeming  barbarous  process 
but  perhaps  less  painful  than  hanirin^. 

In  the  countries  named  the  garrotte  is  in  the 
hands  of  honest  men  and  the  villains  are  the 


45 


chohees ;  but  in  this  enlightened  land  the  rogue9 
have  turned  the  tables  on  the  honest  folks  and  be- 
come the  chokers ;  so  look  out  you  fellows  who 
wander  o'  nights  into  strange  places  in  strange 
company. 

Garrotting  in  New  York,  means  the  choking  the 
presence  of  mind  and  strength  out  of  a  man  in  an 
instant,  for  the  purpose  of  robbing  him  while  in 
that  delightful  condition.  The  operation  is  gen- 
erally performed  by  a  gang,  usually  three  or 
four;  they  approach  the  customer  from  behind  and 
while  one  or  two  hold  his  arms,  the  chief  or  choke- 
;  master  throws  his  arm  around  the  neck  of  his  vic- 
tim, forcing  back  his  head,  jamming  his  chin  so 
hard  against  his  upper  jaw  that  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  make  a  noise,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  throat  is  so  violently  constricted  that  the  suf- 
'  ferer  can  not  breathe. 

While  in  this  perfectly  helpless  position  another 
of  the  gang  rifles  his  pockets  of  all  his  valuables, 
and  as  a  finishing  stroke  he  is  generally  knocked 
down  by  a  blow  on  the  head,  that  he  may  not  be 
able  to  collect  his  scattered  senses  before  the  ope- 
rators make  good  their  escape.  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that .  garrotting  is  highway  robbery,  unat- 
tended with  any  of  the  romance  with  which  it  was 
formerly  surrounded  by  the  gentlemanly  practi- 
tioners of  that  delightful  profession.  It  is  high- 
way robbery  aggravated  and  made  unbearable  by 
the  most  brutal  violence  and  complete  disregard 
of  human  suffering. 

Street  robbery  by  aid  of  the  knife  is  seldom  re- 
sorted to,  as  it  is  difficult  to  strike  a  blow  that  will 
prevent  an  outcry  from  the  victim  ;  blood,  too, 
would  be  likely  to  fall  upon  the  operator's  clothes 
and  lead  to  his  detection.  The  slung-shot  is  there- 
fore the  most  appropriate  weapon  ;  it  consists  of  a 


short  rope  or  strap,  with  a  leaden  or  iron  ball  at 

one  end  and  a  loop  at  the  other  ;  the  loop  passes 
over  the  wrist  while  the  cord  is  taken  in  the  hand 
and  the  ball  swings  free. 

The  slung-shot  is  both  a  convenient  and  dan- 
gerous weapon ;  it  can  be  carried  in  the  pocket  at 
all  times,  or  gathered  in  the  hand  or  under  the 
cuff  ready  for  instant  service,  while  a  blow  from 
it  when  swung  by  a  nervous  arm  is  most  deadly. 
Thus  provided  the  robber  turns  upon  his  victim 
as  he  passes  him,  or  creeps  up  stealthily  behind 
him,  or  perhaps  boldly  asks  the  time  of  night,  and 
as  the  unsuspecting  and  accommodating  stranger 
looks  down  upon  his  gold  repeater,  cracks  him 
over  the  head,  seizes  the  watch  and  runs.  There 
is  about  as  much  wisdom  in  shaking  one's  leg 
over  a  boat's  side  under  a  shark's  nose,  as  in  ex- 
hibiting a  watch  after  dark  in  the  streets  of  New 
York  city ;  keep  beyond  striking  distance  of  every 
stranger -that  accosts  you  after  ten  o'clock,  P.  M., 
or  after  dusk  if  it  be  in  a  by-street,  even  if  he  ap- 
pears to  be  helplessly  drunk. 

In  the  good  old  romantic  days  of  Dick  Turpin 
and  Claude  Duval ;  of  the  Paul  Cliffords  of  our 
romance  writers,  robbery  was  elevated  to  one  of 
the  fine  arts,  and  highwaymen  were  at  the  same 
time  the  terror  of  the  men,  and  the  admiration  of 
the  women ;  so  much  so,  that  even  the  first  novel 
writer  of  the  age  was  not  ashamed  to  devote  two 
whole  books  in  illustration  and  praise  of  a  high- 
wayman hero. 

The  robber  of  those  times  rode  the  best  horses 
that  the  purest  blood  could  produce  ;  carried  the 
best  arms  that  craftsmen's  skill  could  invent ;  and 
attired  himself  in  the  jauntiest  and  most  costly 
clothes  that  money  could  buy.  One  of  these  po- 
lite gentlemen  of  the  road  would  stop  a  coach  or 


47 


travelling  carriage  with  the  pleasant  air  of  a  gen~ 
tleman,  aud  rob  all  the  inmates  with  the  manners 
of  a  prince  ;  apologizing  to  the  gentlemen  while 
he  took  their  purses  and  watches,  and  praising  the 
beauty  of  the  ladies  while  in  the  act  of  possessing 
himself  of  their  jewelry  and  trinkets.  Having 
satisfactorily  accomplished  his  job,  he  would  raise 
his  laced  hat  with  a  bewitching  grace,  and  ride 
away  like  a  noble  cavalier.  Now  there  would  be 
some  satisfaction  in  being  robbed  in  that  kind  of 
style,  and  if  a  man  did  not  have  any  money  with 
him,  he  would  almost  feel  like  giving  the  engag- 
ing brigand  his  note  for  thirty  days  payable  to 
bearer,  and  no  questions  asked. 

But  alas,  for  the  degeneracy  of  the  times !  the 
good  old  pleasant  days  of  being  robbed  in  gentle 
peace  and  aristocratic  comfort  are  gone  forever. 
The  highway-man  of  this  age  is  a  brutal  ruffian, 
armed  with  bludgeon  and  slung-shot,  too  cow- 
ardly even  to  attack  a  single  man  except  with  a 
gang  at  his  heels,  and  who  having  stripped  you  of 
all  your  money  will  smash  your  skull  in  very  ex- 
cess of  dastard  brutality.  Of  such  are  the  street 
robbers  of  New  York  city.  Until  the  streets  are 
nearly  deserted  they  avoid  respectable  quarters, 
and  hang  about  the  by-streets  or  public  parks  ;  or 
lie  in  wait  along  the  lonely  avenues  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  city  ;  they  seldom  attack  a  sober  per- 
son. Occasionally  a  belated  business  man,  or  one 
bound  home  from  the  cars,  or  out  late  in  quest  of  a 
physician,  is  troubled  with  their  attentions.  But 
in  almost  every  case  of  street  robbery,  and  gar- 
rotting in  particular,  an  investigation  would  show 
that  the  victim  was  obfusticated  with  liquor. 
Sometimes  a  careless,  sauntering  stranger  is 
pitched  into  and  relieved  of  his  valuables,  but  as 
a  general  thing  they  pay  their  court  to  young  gen- 


48 


tlemcn going  home  "elevated"  by  champaign 
from  tall  parties;  or  "tight"  from  a  gambling 
house;  or  "tipsy"  from  having  a  good  time 
with  a  crowd  of  good  fellows  somewhere. 

Garrotting,  as  an  institution,  may  be  said  to  be 
almost  extinct  in  this  city — it  went  out  of  fashion 
in  a  desperate  hurry  immediately  after  a  sensible 
Judge  sentenced  three  garrotters  to  the  State's 
prison ;  one  for  life,  and  two  for  twenty-one  years 
each.  They  didn't  seem  to  appreciate  the  joke 
of  this  kind  of  dealing,  and  we  have  heard  very 
little  of  performances  in  the  garrotting  line,  in  the 
course  of  eight  months. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  first-rate  truth,  that 
strangers  need  fear  little  from  garrotters  or  slung- 
shot  men  if  they  keep  sober,  and  don't  go  into 
places  where  they  "shouldn't  oughter."  But  if 
they  are  so  anxious  to  see  city  life  that  they  will 
go  to  the  sailor  dance-houses  in  Water  street,  and 
will  "  trip  the  light  fantastic  toe  "  in  the  Dutch 
"Apollo  Rooms"  of  Centre  and  William  streets ; 
and  will  "  shake  a  leg  "  in  the  Dead  Rabbit  As- 
semblies of  the  Five  Points  ;  or  "jerk  their  little 
pas  "  with  the  saddle-colored  beauties  in  the  "  nig- 
ger "  dance  houses  of  Thomas  street  and  West 
Broadway;  if  they  will  poke  their  noses  into 
every  panel-crib,  and  pick-pockets'  dens,  and  flash 
drinking  shops,  and  thieves'  rendezvous  they  can 
hear  of  or  scent  out,  and  won't  be  content  unless  they 
"sample"  the  poisonous  liquors  at  every  rum 
hole  on  the  route,  and  get  so  "  toddied  "  that  they 
cannot  tell  a  dictionary  from  a  hook-and-ladder- 
truck,  why  then  they  need  not  complain  if  they 
are  garrotted  or  have  their  skulls  broken. 

We  have  one  piece  of  advice  for  all  our  readers 
that  if  adhered  to  will  secure  them  almost  entirely 
from  attack  '.—Keep  sober,  and  go  only  where  you 


49 


have  honest  and  reputable  business  to  attend  to.  In 
fact  the  great  rule  for  any  man's  conduct  in  a  city, 
by  the  observance  of  which  he  may  go,  from  the 
age  of  kites  and  peg-tops  to  that  of  spectacles 
and  crutches,  without  ever  a  fight  or  the  symptom 
of  one,  is  "  keep  sober,  and  maintain  a  civil  tongue 
in  your  head.,f 

We  close  this  chapter  with  an  account  of  a  case 
of  garrotting  which  occurred  in  a  back  street 
where  a  respectable  white  man  has  no  more  busi- 
ness in  the  night  time,  than  a  jackass  has  in  a 
double  bed.  It  is  a  low  tale,  but  is  given  to  show 
young  men  how  Rum,  by  inducing  low  taste  and 
reckless  habits,  can  debase  a  being  created  "  a 
little  lower  than  the  angels." 

Our  frail  hero's  name  is  Scranton.  We  don't 
wish  to  expose  the  young  man  by  giving  his  real 
name ;  so  for  this  occasion  we  will  give  him  the 
prenomen  of  a  Eoman  emperor,  and  call  him 
Adrian.  Well,  Adrian  is  a  good  hearted  fellow, 
but  he  drinks.  He  can  do  a  great  variety  of 
things  of  no  particular  use  to  anybody,  and  he 
drinks.  He  was  too  smart  for  the  country  where 
he  was  born,  so  he  came  to  this  city ;  he  is  a  ca- 
pable young  man — but  he  drinks. 

On  'the  particular  occasion  to  which  we  refer, 
Adrian  had  been  having  a  good  time  with  some 
dashing  young  ladies  not  of  the  tee-total  order ; 
wine  had  been  tasted,  to  say  nothing  of  brandy 
punches.  And  when  Adrian  started  for  his  board- 
ing house  his  head  hummed  like  a  bee-hive.  He 
met  an  acquaintance  and  did  cock-tails  with  him ; 
then  they  set  down  and  talked  over  politics— then 
thev  did  cock-tails  ;  then  they  eat  some  stews  and 
Welsh  rare-bits— then  they  did  cock-tails— then 
they  did  cock-tails— after  that  they  did  cock-tails 
and  then  started  for  home— but  the  landlord  called 


50 


them  back,  and  they  did  cock-tails  with  him  ;  then 

they  did  cock-tails  with  the  bar-keeper — as  it  was 
then  getting  late  and  the  bar- keeper  wished  to 
close,  they  did  cock-tails  and  left. 

Adrian's  friend  at  once  deserted  him  and  left 
the  overloaded  youth  to  pursue  his  journey  alone. 
But  at  this  crisis  the  young  man  had  become 
slightly  confused,  and  quite  undecided  whether  he 
was  atoot  or  on  horseback ;  he  gazed  intently  for 
some  time  at  a  hydrant,  trying  to  decide  whether 
it  was  his;  bedstead  or  his  friend  Seymour;  he 
wanted  to  do  the  polite  thing ;  if  it  was  his  bed- 
stead  he  wanted  to  pull  off  his  boots  and  retire  ; 
but  if  it  was  his  friend  Seymour  he  wanted  to 
propose  cock-tails  ;  but  he  didn't  want  to  go  bed 
on  his  friend  Seymour,  nor  ask  his  bedstead  to 
drink  with  him.  He  says  he  doesn't  know  how 
he  ever  decided  this  knotty  point,  but  he  distinctly 
remembers  that  cock-tails  came  of  it. 

On  the  corner  of  the  next  street  he  fell  in  with 
a  sandy-haired  girl,  who  pitying  his  condition  of- 
fered to  see  him  home.  Having  once  attended  a 
Woman's  Rights  meeting,  and  seen  the  pictures  in 
Hirper's,  and  having  a  vague  impression  that  it 
was  leap-year,  he  thanked  her  kindly,  thrust  his 
arm  under  hers,  and  thus  escorted  and  protected 
he  moved  on. 

In  Duane  street  they  were  met  by  four  fellows, 
who  seeing  Adrian's  condition  quickly  hustled  the 
girl  away,  and  put  him  through  the  garrotting  pro- 
cess ;  he  was  divested  of  his  money,  watch,  finger- 
rings,  coat  and  boots,  in  less  time  than  he  could 
have  swallowed  another  cock-tail  ;  then,  for  a  fin- 
ish, they  gave  him  a  blow  which  left  him  extended 
upon  the  side-walk. 

Sobered  somewhat  by  the  porformance,  the 
abused  individual  picked  himself  up,  and  pro- 


51 


tected  by  his  plucked  appearance  from  further 
harm,  he  reached  his  home  without  being  again 
molested. 

Whatever  became  of  the  sandy-haired  girl 
Scranton  cannot  tell ;  but  he  is  strongly  of  opin- 
ion that  as  she  had  designs  upon  his  valuables, 
she  was  as  much  disconcerted,  and  probably  lost 
as  much  by  the  garrotters  as  himself. 

Our  readers  may  rest  assured  that  there  has  not 
been  one  case  of  garrotting  in  a  hundred  where 
the  garrottee  has  not  prepared  himself  for  the  ope- 
ration by  the  indiscriminate  use  of  "  Cock-tails," 
"  Cobblers/'  "  Juleps  "  or  "  Smashers,"  and  they 
need  fear  little  from  the  garrotters  if  they  will  only 
mind  our  golden  rule — "Keep  sober,  and  don't  go 
where  you  '  shouldn't  oughter.'  " 


CHAPTER  V. 


GAMBLING  AND  GAMBLING-HOUSES. 

"  I  don't  gamble,  and  so  this  chapter  doesn't 
refer  to  me."  How  do  you  know  it  doesn't? — 
You'd  better  read  it  and  see,  and  not  throw  the 
book  down  in  that  disdainful  sort  of  way,  as  if 
you  were  as  pious  as  a  high-pressure  martyr  and 
didn't  know  any  more  about  sin  than  a  bull-frog 
does  of  eating  peaches  and  cream. 

We  didn't,  hasty  reader,  take  you  for  a  gam- 
bler ;  and  this  book  isn't  written  for  gamblers, 
we'd  have  you  to  understand ;  but  for  honest 
chaps  like  you  and  the  writer,  who  don't  bet 
"  Faro,"  or  "  Fight  the  tiger,"  but  who  ought  to 
have  an  idea  of  how  the  thing  is  done,  and  the 
slippery  paths  that  lead  to  where  it  is  enacted,  lest 
we  be  tricked  into  it  some  day,  or  find  ourselves 
unconsciously  sliding  downwards  into  its  ruin- 
ous vortex.  If  you  now  understand  us,  and  have 
got  done  putting  on  airs,  and  are  ready  to  act 
sensibly,  we  will  g0  on  with  our  subject. 

It  is  by  no  means  difficult  to  write  an  interesting 
chapter  upon  gambling  in  New  York ;  for  there  is 
every  variety  of  it  done  here,  from  the  knot  of 
negroes  in  a  beer  cellar,  hustling  pennies  in  a  hat, 
to  the  operations  of  Wall  street,  by  which  tens  of 
thousands  are  lost  at  a  sweep ;  but  the  difficulty 


53 


lies  in  writing  so  as  to  excite  the  fears  and  the 
wholesome  disgust  of  inexperienced  young  men, 
rather  than  merely  to  raise  and  stimulate  a  dan- 
gerous curiosity.  You  will  hardly  believe  us,  un- 
unsophisticated  reader,  when  we  assert  that  many 
articles,  and  some  books  are  published  abusive  of 
a  particular  vice,  on  purpoee  to  induce  persons  to 
practice  it.  There  are  too  many  young  persons 
ready  to  say,  "  your  preaching  may  all  be  very 
good,  dear  grand-mother,  but  I  would  like  to  see 
the  folly  of  it  too."  We  have  not  a  doubt,  that 
if  disposed,  we  could  make  a  cash  contract  with 
some  of  our  gambling-house  keepers,  to  write  a 
flowery  book  upon  this  subject ;  we  to  have  a 
carti  -blanche  to  say  all  we  chose  denunciatory  of 
them  and  their  profession,  and  they  to  take  thous- 
ands of  the  work  off  our  hands  for  gratuitous 
distribution  ;  and  we  are  very  confident  that  some 
weak,  heedless,  self-conceited,  self-confident,  reck- 
less, light-headed/  •  simple-minded,  over-curious, 
foolish  descendants  of  Adam  and  Eve,  will  di- 
rectly after  reading  this  book,  step  into  some  Mock 
Auction  shop,  "just  to  see  how  the  thing  is  done," 
Ad  get  bit  before  they  leave  it. 

How !  did  you  laugh  then  reader,  and  say  that 
you  did  not  doubt  it  too  ?  Well,  my  fine  fellow, 
have  a  care  that  despite  reading  this  very  chapter 
you  do  not  find  yourself  some  day  laughing  out 
of  the  other  side  of  your  mouth  as  you  leave 
some  gambling  hole.  Eemember  Deacon  Pill- 
cochia,  and  "take  heed  lest  you  fall." 

The  Gambling  Hells  in  this  city  abound  in 
every  street ;  they  are  of  two  descriptions,  the  se- 
cret, and  the  open  ;  the  latter  are  vile  appearing 
and  repulsive,  while  the  former  are  fitted  up  with 
great  splendor ;  some  rivalling  even  Oriental  mag- 
nificence in  gorgeousness.  Against  the  lower  order 


54 


of  these  houses  it  is  needless  to  say  anything,  for 
a  stranger  would  not  think  of  entering  one  of 
them  unless  he  was  so  far  gone  as  to  be  beyond 
the  influence  of  advice  and  warning  ;  and  as  to 
the  aristocratic  hells,  were  we  so  unwise  as  to  point 
them  out,  it  would  avail  our  readers  nothing, 
since  they  could  not  obtain  admittance  to  them 
without  an  introduction.  It  is  against  false  friends 
and  the  incipient  taste  or  habit  of  gambling,  that 
we  would  fore-arm  our  readers. 

The  manner  in  which  the  great  majority  of 
young  people  are  inducted  into  the  mysteries  and 
excitements  of  games  of  chance  is,  by  the  various 
styles  of  social  or  private  gambling,  begun  in  the 
company  of  friends  or  companions,  and  generally 
for  no  greater  stakes  than  "  the  oysters/'  a  "  bot- 
tle of  wine,"  or  "  theatre  tickets,"  or  some  com- 
paratively inexpensive  trifles.  It  all  costs  money 
though,  and  many  a  man  begins  in  this  way,  who 
would  shrink  back,  if  he  saw  so  many  dollars 
actually  placed  upon  the  table  with  the  proposi- 
tion to  play  for  them  and  see  who  should  take  the 
pile  away  with  him.  There  are  thousands  of 
ways  of  gaming  without  cards  or  dice,  or  any  of 
the  professional  paraphernalia  ;  and  "  matching 
pennies  "  infringes  the  moral  statute  against  this 
fascinating  vice,  just  as  much  as  betting  five  hun- 
dred on  a  king,  or  "  going  a  thousand  better  "  on 
"three  Aces  and  a  pair  of  high-heeled  Jacks." 
Playing  a  rubber  of  "  Whist"  at  "five  dollars" 
a  corner,  or  doing  a  little  "  twenty  deck  poker," 
with  a  dollar  "  ante,"  is  no  more  gambling,  than 
going  "  odd  or  even,"  for  the  drinks,  or  skipping 
a  copper  for  a  shilling  stew  and  mug  of  ale. 

Hats-bane  is  Rats-bane,  be  the  lump  large  or 
small. 

A  taste  for  acquiring  money  without  work  is  de- 


55 


veloped  by  betting  ;  for  in  fact  any  game  of  chance 
can  be  reduced  to  a  bet.  This  dangerous  practice 
obtains  largely  with  our  country  cousins  ;  as  much 
so  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  perhaps,  as  the 
more  marked  procedure  of  direct  gaming  among 
the  accomplished  sharpers  of  the  town. 

Young  men  in  the  country,  while  hanging  about 
the  "  store,"  or  the  blacksmith's  shop,  are  exceed- 
ing  apt  to  indulge  in  a  little  social  game  of  brag 
as  to  their  achievements  of  strength,  skill,  or 
agility  ;  and  have  many  a  dispute  as  to  the  weight 
of  a  fat  ox  or  a  favorite  pig ;  the  speed  of  a  fast 
horse  ;  the  length  of  time  in  which  a  certain  man 
can  plough  an  acre  ;  whether  A  can  rake  and  bind 
as  fast  as  B  can  cradle  ;  how  many  cords  of  wood 
Jones  can  chop  in  a  day,  and  whether  Brown  can 
lift  a  barrel  of  cider  by  the  chimes  and  throw  it 
over  the  tail-board,  and  so  on.  All  these  points 
are  animatedly  discussed  and  result  generally  in  a 
wager,  which  when  feasible  is  decided  on  the  spot. 
In  this  way  our  rural  friends,  many  of  them,  come 
to  the  city  pretty  well  prepared  to  go  a  greater 
length  in  gambling,  just  so  soon  as  they  became 
possessed  of  more  money  to  back  up  their  opin- 
ions with.  The  transition  of  betting  mugs  of 
cider  on  the  weight  of  a  pig,  to  betting  a  "  pile" 
on  the  speed  of  a  horse,  or  the  color  of  a  card,  is 
by  no  means  so  great  as  it  may  seem. 

"  Now  the  argument  from  all  this  is,  that  the  city 
is  held  responsible  for  all  the  sins  of  the  country  in 
this  respect,  and  young  men  are  said  to  be  "  led 
from  the  paths  of  rectitude  by  the  vices  of  the 
town,"  and  all  that  sort  of  humbug  ;  when  the  fact 
is,  that  they  had  got  so  far  out  of  the  sight  of 
rectitude  before  they  left  home,  that  they  probably 
never  would  have  got  back  again,  city  or  no  city. 
But  our  mission  is  not  to  defend  the  city,  thank 


56 


fortune ;  for  if  it  were  we  should  have  our  hands 
full  for  the  rest  of  our  natural  life.  We  only  want 
gently  to  insinuate,  that  the  old  city  has  got  sins 
enough  of  her  own  to  bear,  without  having  thrust 
upon  her  shoulders,  broad  as  they  are,  all  those 
of  her  country  cousins. 

We  have  said  that  it  was  not  possible  to  gain 
admittance  to  the  upper  Gambling  Hells  without 
an  introduction — this  is  true — Fifth  Avenue  itself 
is  not  half  so  exclusive. 

And  why  is  this  ?  Think  you,  my  simple  friend, 
it  is  because  their  proprietors  fear  the  police  ? — 
Why,  as  a  matter  of  pride  and  assurance,  Pat 
Heine  would  at  any  time  bet  the  Astor  House  (he 
is  rich  enough  to  buy  it),  against  an  apple  wo- 
man's stand,  that  he "  could  not  be  shut  up  for  a 
single  evening.  No,  my  good  friend,  if  you  knew 
who  own  the  buildings  where  these  Hells  are  kept ; 
who  patronise  them,  and  who  are  patronised  by 
their  keepers,  you  would  be  well  satisfied  that  no 
law  except  "  black-mail  "  law,  can  affect  them. — 
No !  it  is  to  keep  out  the  fathers,  brothers  and 
friends  of  victims  in  course  of  being  fleeced ;  to 
prevent  the  honest  merchant  from  seeing  what  his 
partners,  clerks  or  customers  are  about,  that  this 
wall  of  exclusiveness  is  maintained.  You  can 
only  be  introduced,  Young  Innocence,  by  some 
acquaintance  of  the  proprietor  in  whom  he  has  con- 
fidence:  that  confidence  being  based  upon  the  fact, 
that  your  chaperon  (introducer)  is  either  a  paid 
agent — a  "  stool  pigeon  "  or  "  roper-in,"  or  a  man 
who  is  on  the  direct  road  to  ruin  himself,  and  who 
has  become  so  reckless,  that  he  would  not  hesitate 
to  drag  a  friend  with  him,  and,  perhaps,  share  in 
the  profits  of  his  plucking. 

And  now  you  city  youth,  who  are  about  to 
come  into  possession  of  a  fortune  ;  you,  student 


\ 


57 


from  the  South,  whose  rich  parents  grant  ton 
every  desire  ;  you  Western  juvenile,  whose  father 
counts  his  prairie  acres  of  wheat  by  the  thousands  ; 
and  you  young  man  from  the  East,  whose  energy, 
industry,  capability,  and  hitherto  unspotted  in- 
tegrity, have  gained  for  you  the  entire  confidence 
together  with  the  custody  of  the  books,  safe-keys 
and  treasures  of  our  Merchant  Princes  and  Bank- 
ers, look  for  a  moment  at  the  pit-falls  around 
your  feet,  and  the  spring-nets  over  your  heads. 

Every  one  of  you  are  marked  men  :  the  gaming- 
house keepers  have  spotted  you ;  your  names  are 
entered  upon  their  books  ;  your  present  means 
and  future  expectations  ;  the  money  that  passes 
through  your  hands,  together  with  your  facilities 
for  reaching  more,  and  of  covering  up  delinquen- 
ces  by  false  entries  and  other  means,  are  all  esti- 
mated ;  and  your  habits  and  little  indulgences  all 
noted.  No  Collect  from  the  Directory,  or  from 
the  minutes  of  the  Assessors  or  of  the  Parisian  Mar- 
riage Brokers  and  Secret  Police  combined,  could 
give  as  good  a  clue  to  a  man's  position,  prospects 
and  habits,  and  consequently  of  his  value  as  a 
"  pigeon,"  and  his  availability  of  being  "  plucked/' 
as  does  this  "  Doom  Book  "  of  the  gambling  frater- 
nity give  of  you.  You  are  watched  and  your  foot- 
steps dogged  ;  your  detectors  and  tempters  move  in 
the  best  society ;  some  of  them  hold  positions  of 
authority  and  trust ;  they  were  once  honest  and  true 
men,  and  having  been  tempted  and  fallen  theim 
selves,  know  well  how  to  drag  others  down.  Nor 
are  your  tempters  confined  to  the  male  sex  alone  ; 
women,  and  in  the  first  circles  too,  lend  themselves 
innocently  or  designedly  to  the  work  of  initiating 
you  into  this  dangerous  vice — like  fat  trout, 
whose  habits  and  locality  certain  keen  sportsmen 
well  know,  you  are  eagerly  sought  after,  and  every 


5^ 


thing  that  sociality  and  good  fellowship  can  ac- 
complish to  mask  their  approaches  and  disguise 
their  bait,  rest  assured  will  be  put  in  play. 

Distrust  then  all  persons  who  invite  you  to  play 
Tor  a  sum,  however  trifling  the  amount ;  especially 

BEWARE  OF  THE  MAN  WHO  WOULD  INDUCE 
YOU    TO    ENTER  A   GAMBLING    HELL    ON  ANY 

PRETENCE   WHATEVER  ;  SHUN    HIM  CUT  HIM 

INSTANTER — AS  YOU  WOULD  THE  EVIL  ONE, 
THE  MOMENT  YOU   SEE  HIS  CLOVEN  FOOT. 

Sometimes  a  man  finds  himself  in  one  of  these 
places  of  perdition  before  he  is  aware  of  it ;  he  is 
invited  by  his  designing  friend  to  see  some  choice 
paintings;  to  visit  a  shooting  gallery;  or  private 
club-house,  where  some  fine  spirits  meet  to  smoke 
and  sing  and  joke,  and,  assenting,  suddenly  finds 
himself  in  large  and  splendid  apartments,  garnish- 
ed with  the  most  costly  mirrors,  pictures,  carpets 
and  furniture — he  is  invited  to  the  supper  table, 
which  is  covered  with  everything  that  can  tempt 
the  appetite,  including  the  choicest  wines,  of  all  of 
which  he  is  invited  to  partake  scot  free  ;  if  his  eyes 
be  not  open  now  to  where  he  is,  or,  if  opened,  and 
he  be  fool-hardy  enough  to  sit  at  this  board,  nine 
chances  to  one  he  is  in  an  hour's  time  fitted  to 
take  a  calm  look  at  the  "  tiger,"  (as  the  faro  banks 
or  roulette  tables  are  jocularly  and  zoologically 
called, )  or  any  other  engine  of  evil  that  may  be 
presented  him. 

He  looks  at  the  gaming  table;  he  sees  there 
what  would  be  fortunes  to  him  won  on  the  turn  of  a 
card ;  he  sees  piles  of  gold  and  rolls  of  bills  rapid- 
ly changing  hands  ;  if  he  is  tempted  to  play  him- 
selt  he  may  win  a  few  dollars  and  depart  richer 
than  he  came ;  but,  foolish  man,  you  are  like  to  a 
fish  with  the  bait  in  his  mouth ;  the  hook  and  line 
is  attached  thereto,  and  in  the  end  you  will  be 
brought  up  with  a  round  turn. 


It  is  not  the  object  of  this  book  to  inflame  curi- 
osity to  see  these  hells,  any  more  than  to  make  it 
serve  as  a  directory  where  to  find  them ;  but  to  tell 
men  in  the  plainest  terms  keep  away — don't  go  into 
them:  if  by  any  chance  you  find  yourself  in  one,  flee 
instantly,  as  you  would  from  the  mouth  of  the  bottom- 
less pit.  Be  assured  it  is  the  only  safe  way.  For 
if  once  you  venture  into  a  place  where  you  see 
money  changing  hands  in  large  quantities  every 
minute,  and  men  coining  big  piles  of  gold  without 
effort  or  exertion,  your  fingers  will  itch  to  dip  into 
the  golden  heap,  and  the  chances  are  ten  to  one 
that  you  will  drag  out  your  spare  dollars  and  go 
at  it,  and  if  you  do,  you  may  in  an  hour  acquire  a 
taste  that  can  never  be  entirely  relinquished.  A 
man's  common  sense  may  cause  him  to  forsake 
the  habit  of  gambling,  but  he  can  no  more  eradi- 
cate the  taste  than  he  can  pull  off  his  head  with  a 
boot-jack. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  lookers-on  at  a  gaming 
table  never  see  any  but  the  winning  side.  Can't 
you  see,  you  miserable  numbscull,  (pardon  us  for 
knocking  you  over  the  head  to  bring  you  to  your 
sensesj  that  for  every  dollar  one  man  wins  a  hun- 
dred cents  must  come  out  of  another's  pocket? 
Go  to  !  some  of  you  men  who  ordinarily  have  sense 
enough  to  make  money  elsewhere  and  come  here 
like  fools  to  waste  it.  Go  to  !  get  up  a  stock  com- 
pany ;  pay  in  your  money  and  then  draw  it  out  in 
checks  in  proportion  to  your  shares — hire  rooms 
and  set  yourselves  to  gambling ;  as  fast  as  one  of 
you  is  cleaned  out  let  him  leave,  and  let  no  money 
be  carried  away  from  the  establishment — pay  your 
landlord  one  dollar  for  each  game  you  play,  and 
at  the  end  of  a  few  months  what  will  your  divi- 
dends, and  what  your  stock  be  worth?  Your 
landlord  will  have  'absorbed  it  all. 


60 


In  this  example,  reader,  you  have  a  true  exhibit 
of  the  rationale  of  all  gambling ;  it  is  the  keepers 
of  these  hells  alone  that  make  the  money ;  what- 
ever the  winner  takes  away  one  evening  he  is  sure 
to  bring  hack  and  lose  the  next.  Do  you  think 
the  managers  of  these  dens  do  not  know  their  men  ? 
Do  you  suppose  they  do  not  understand  how  to 
deal  their  cards  ?  Would  they  venture  to  sustain 
those  expensive  rooms,  that  army  of  hangers-on 
and  attendants,  those  free  suppers  with  wine  run- 
ning as  unchecked  as  if  it  were  Croton,  did  they 
not  know  when  and  how  to  turn  up  the  knave  of 
trumps  1 

In  one  word,  reader,  Gaming  as  practiced  at  the 
fashionable  hells  in  New  York,  is  only  an  immense, 
gaudy  "Thimble  Rig"  and  "Patent  Safe  Game" 
swindle. 

Now,  we  suppose,  you  expect  a  story  to  close 
this  chapter;  something  humorous  to  relieve  its 
sombreness  ;  but  what  is  the  use;  to  attempt  to 
be  funny  over  such  a  subject  would  be  like  crack- 
ing  jokes  at  a  funeral ;  and  as  to  gambling  stories 
the  papers  and  books  are  full  of  such,  and  the  pri- 
sons are  crowded  with  the  heroes  of  them ;  the 
grave  too  is  filled  with  the  suicides  and  broken 
hearts  consequent  upon  indulgence  in  the  vice  of 
gambling.  If,  dear  reader,  we  have  thus  far  led 
you  on  by  endeavoring  to  amuse,  in  order  to  fix 
your  attention,  and  thereby  instruct  you,  excuse 
us  now  when  our  theme  is  too  excessively  harrow- 
ing to  be  dull,  and  let  us  all  finish  this  chapter  in 
a  frame  of  mind  suited  to  an  advantageous  con- 
templation of  its  subject. 

Take  then,  friends,  the  advice  of  a  man  who  has 
been  through  the  mill ;  who  knows  every  spot  on 
the  cards,  every  point  on  the  dice,  and  every 
chance  on  the  balls,  and  don't  make  a  beginning ; 


61 


don't  gamble ;  don't  wager,  don't  bet ;  if  you 
once  get  under  way,  it  will  cost  you  all  you  can 
earn,  beg,  borrow  or  steal ;  if  you  begin  with  oys- 
ters you  will  end  with  doubloons.  If  the  clerk 
gambles,  the  till  suffers  ;  if  the  merchant  games 
the  banks  lose ;  robbery  and  forgery  are  the  natu- 
ral results  and  Sing  Sing  looms  in  the  distance. 

PLEASANT  PROSPECTIVE. 

Beware,  young  readers,  of  weak  companions  and 
false  friends ;  if  you  are  asked  to  go  to  the  theatre 
or  to  play  a  social  game  of  whist,  do  so,  but  stop 
there — if  you  are  invited  to  bet  even  a  trifle,  have 
the  manliness  to  refuse  point-blank :  say  you  have 
read  this  little  book,  and  one  that  understands  the 
matter  well,  has  said  therein,  that  the  man  who 
wagers  is  a  fool,  whose  companionship  is  unprofit- 
able, while  he  who  would  take  an  acquaintance  to 
a  gambling  saloon  may  be  safely  set  down  as  a 
villain,  with  whom  further  communication  is  dan- 
gerous. 

Don't  gamble  ;  don't  wager ;  don't  bet. 


If  any  of  our  readers  desire  to  peruse  an  intensely 
interesting  narrative,  descriptive  of  the  manner  in 
which,  in  England,  young  men  of  wealth  are  ruin- 
ed— systematically  plucked — by  aristocratic  gam- 
blers ;  and  thereby  be  able  to  form  a  better  judg- 
ment of  what  may  be  going  on  here,  let  them  obtain 


62 


the  "Diary  of  a  London  Physician  "  and  read  the 
article  referred  to  below.  It  may  he  issued  shortly 
as  a  volume  of  our  Half-Dime  Hand-Books. 

 Prison,  London,  Oct.  17,  1831. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Morning  Herald, 

Sir — There  is  an  awful  narrative  in  the 
current  number  of  Blackwood's  Magazine,  of  the 
fate  of  a  gamester,  which,  in  addition  to  the  wri- 
ter's assurances,  bears  intrinsic  evidence  of  truth. 
Independent  even  of  this  I  can  believe  it  all,  high- 
ly colored  as  some  may  consider  it — for  I  am  a 
ruined  gamester. 

Yes,  sir,  I  am  lying  here  as  it  were  rotting  in 
jail,  because  I  have,  like  a  fool,  spent  over  a  gam- 
ing table  all  my  patrimony ;  twenty-five  thousand 
pounds  are  all  gone  at  Rouge  et  Noir  and  Hazard  ! 
All  gone  !  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  the  wri- 
ter of  that  terrible  account  had  me  in  his  eye,  or 
has  been  told  something  of  my  history. 

If  I  had  a  hundred  pounds  to  spare,  I  would 
spend  it  all  in  re-printing  the  "Gambler"  from 
Blackwood's  Magazine,  and  distributing  it  among 

the  frequenters  of  C  's  and  F  's,  and  other 

hells.  I  am  sure  its  overwhelming  truth  and 
power  would  shock  some  into  pausing  on  the  brink 
of  ruin. 

I  am,  sirs,  yours  obediently, 

A  Ruined  Gamester. 


\ 


63 


VALEDICTORY. 

Readers  we  have  a  great  respect  for  you  all, 
especially  for  those  of  you  who  have  paid  their  five 
cents  for  this  book  instead  of  borrowing  it  of  a 
suffering  friend ;  and  as  we  have  now  come  to  the 
close  of  this  volume  we  suppose  you  expect  us  to 
throw  in  a  benediction,  and  wish  you  good  luck 
and  happiness,  all  for  the  same  five  cents.  It  is  a 
good  deal  to  give  for  the  money,  but  we  are  dis- 
posed to  he  generous  and  not  stand  for  trifles  ;  and 
so  we  wish  you,  one  and  all,  a  pleasant  journey 
through  life ;  as  much  money  as  will  be  a  real 
benefit  to  you ;  a  large  share  of  common  sense 
with  wit  to  use  it,  and  all  for  no  extra  charge. 

And  now  don't,  for  Heaven's  sake,  any  of  you 
go  and  make  insane  jackasses  of  yourselves  by 
running  into  the  very  snares  that  we  have  warned 
you  against.  When  you  come  to  New  York  try 
to  act  honestly  by  every  one ;  for  we  assure  you 
that  one-half  the  people  who  are  taken  in  by  the 
tricks  we  have  described,  lose  their  money  while 
endeavoring  to  swindle  somebody  else.  Keep 
your  eyes  wide  open,  and  shun  the  advances  of 
smooth  spoken  strangers  of  both  sexes — don't 
trust  any  one  until  an  acquaintance  of  longer  than 
a  single  day  has  given  you  assurauce  of  his  fair- 
ness and  honesty,  and  last  not  least,  don't  get 

DRUNK. 

You  will  have  enough  to  do  to  keep  out  of  trou- 
ble if  you  retain  the  full  possession  of  your  five 
senses  and  four  limbs ;  but  you  are  morally  cer- 
tain to  get  into  a  muss  if  you  stupify  yourself  with 


64 


u  doctored "  liquors  until  you  can't  tell  whether 
it  is  you  or  the  pavement  is  moving ;  and  don't 
know  whether  you  are  in  Broadway  or  a  tamar- 
ack swamp.  When  a  stranger  is  in  town  in  such 
an  oblivious  state  that  he  takes  the  City  Hall  Park 
for  a  sugar  bush,  and  the  Park  Fountain  for  the 
sap  kettle,  his  condition  is  sure  to  be  discovered 
by  many  of  the  honorable  gentlemen  who  make 
that  delightful  locality  their  haunt,  and  pick  up  an 
honest  living  by  larceny,  and  the  visitor  is  then 
safe  to  be  taken  in  with  a  vengeance. 

There  are  other  games  which  are  practised  upon 
strangers  ;  other  evils  to  warn  them  against,  which 
we  shall  take  up  in  succeeding  volumes. 

And  now,  good  readers,  we  shall  leave  you — for 
a  month — to  your  reflections ;  we  trust  you  are  not 
quite  so  green  as  when  you  began  the  perusal  of 
this  pamphlet ;  we  truly  hope  that  you  are  slightly 
wiser,  and  sharper,  and  up-to-snufter  than  you 
-svere — if  so,  we  shall  not  regret  the  time  we  have 
spent  in  writing,  any  more  than  you  will  regret 
the  half-dime  you  have  expended  lor  the 
"Tricks  and  Traps  of  New  York." 


\ 


\ 


In  the  whole  list  of  Machines,  none  have  come  so  rapidly 
into  favor  and  use,  as  Sewing  Machines.  Their  economy 
and  utility  are  so  palpable,  and  the  merits  of  the  invention 
have  been  so  well  tested,  that  the  only  question  left  for  the 
most  prudent  man  to  ask  himself,  respecting  them,  is, 

"Whose  Machine  shall  I  Buy?" 
and  as  "  work  half  done  must  be  twice  done,'1  it  is  manifest 
that  on  the  performance,  not  on  the  price  of  the  Instrument, 
hangs  a  sensible  decision.    The  Proprietors  of  the 

HUNT,  WEBSTER  &  CO'S  SEWING  MACHINES 

Claim  for  them  the  following  important  points,  and  affirm 
that  money  is  unwisely  invested  in  any  and  all  Sewing  Ma- 
chines which  fall  short  of  this  standard. 

They  will  stitch,  hem,  run,  and  gather. 

They  make  a  strong  lock  stitch,  that  cannot  be  unravelled 
or  pulled  out. 

They  stitch  alike  on  both  sides  of  the  work,  without  form- 
ing ridges  underneath. 

They  are  perfectly  simple,  and  the  management  of  them 
easily  acquired. 

Any  spool  of  cotton,  thread,  or  silk,  sold  at  the  stores,  may 
be  used. 

They  are  almost  noiseless  in  their  operation,  and  will  wear 
longer  than  any  other  Sewing  Machine  extant. 

Let  Manufacturers,  Planters,  Farmers,  Housekeepers,  or 
any  other  persons  in  search  of  an  Instrument  to  execute  any 
kind  o  f  sewing  now  done  by  machinery,  make  sure  they  secure 
the  best,  by  examining  ours  before  purchasing. 

HUNT,  WEBSTER  &  CO. 

Corner  of  Essex  &  Lincoln  Streets,  Boston, 
Also,  at  108  South  Eighth  St.,  Philadelphia. 
Samples  of  Work  sent  by  HIa.il. 


Wisdom  for  Half  a  Dime! 


TRICKS  AND  TRAPS 

 OF  

NEW    VOBK  CITY. 

A  little  book  which  every  man,  woman,  and 
youth,  residing  in  or  on  their  way  to  New  York  ; 
or  who  ever  expect  to  visit  that  vast  habitation 
of  rogues,  swindlers,  and  honest  men,  should 
possess  themselves  of,  and  con  over  well.  Its 
cost  but  Five  Cents  per  Copy  —  to  many  it  may 
prove  worth  a  half  dime  per  line. 


CONTENTS  OF  PART  II. 


Chap.    6.  —  Lotteries  and  Lottery  Policies. 
"       7.  —  Art  Unions  and  Gift  Enterprises. 
"       8 .  —  Employment  Offices  —  Partnership 
Swindles. 

"  9.  —  Bogus  Ticket  Offices  —  California 
and  Western  Passage  Swindles. 

"     10.  —  Confidence    Women  Confiding 

Creatures  —  Indignant  Husband 
Dodge. 

«<     11. —  Street  Walkers  —  Panel  Games. 
««     12.  —  Hackmen  —  Porters  —  Hotels,  &c. 

Publisher  prepays  Books  ordered  Mailed. 


